Ban on the apostrophe

The apostrophe is being banned from street names in parts of Devon to “avoid potential confusion”.

Mid Devon District Council said its new streets had not contained apostrophes for many years, but the policy was now being made official.

It said apostrophes could only be found in three street names in the district.

It added that Beck’s Square and Blundell’s Avenue, both in Tiverton, and St George’s Well in Cullompton, were “all named many, many years ago”.

Andrew Lacey, from the council, said there was “no national guidance that stops apostrophes being used”.

But proofreader Mary de Vere Taylor from Ashburton said the thought of apostrophes being removed made her “shudder”.

“It’s almost as though somebody with a giant eraser is literally trying to erase punctuation from our consciousness,” she told BBC News.

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