TODAY’S TALKER

Former editor ends his fight to put apostrophe in its correct place

For nearly two decades, John Richards dedicated his life to protecting an endangered species: the correctly placed apostrophe.

As the founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society, he waged war against signs advertising“ladies fashions”or claiming that “Diamond’s are forever.” But last month, the 96-year-old admitted defeat.

“The ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won!” Richards wrote on the Apostrophe Protection Society’s website. Given the lack of interest in correct apostrophe usage and his own advancing age, Richards said he is shutting down the group.

“When I first set it up I would get about 40 emails or letters a week from people all over the world,” Richards told the BBC on Friday. “But then two years ago it started to tail off and nowadays I hardly get anything.”

Richards previously worked as a copy editor. For years, he was bedeviled by public messages that lacked necessary apostrophes or added gratuitous ones. In 2001, after retiring from his job at a newspaper in eastern England, he founded the Apostrophe Protection Society“with the specific aim of preserving the correct use of this currently much abused punctuation mark,”as the group’s website puts it.

Initially, the society counted just two members: Richards and his son, Stephen.

Richards recalled that in its first few weeks of existence, the group claimed only one victory, which was getting a local library to correct its sign for“CD’s.”

But after the Daily Telegraph published an article about his quixotic crusade, Richards developed a small but devoted following.