Some of the best entries from last week’s International Apostrophe Day haiku competition
Here are my 10 favourite entries from last week’s competition for International Apostrophe Day. Entrants had to tweet an apostrophe-themed haiku.
@Artellus worked out that the tagline #apostropheday had the right number of syllables:
Just one haiku each?
If so, don’t count this one plz.
#apostropheday
@ActuallyHolly (Holly Ashworth) tagged her entry #haikuingwhilepregnant:
Punctuation marks
all labor hard, but only
you make contractions.
I liked @louisebolotin’s allusion to the so-called greengrocer’s apostrophe:
It hangs between pea’s
But not twixt seasons greetings
Defying logic.
@Punbelievable lived up to their name:
Kings Cross, about the
King’s College apostrophe:
Earl’s Court in two minds.
The possessive apostrophe proved a popular theme:
Life isn’t easy
When you keep being abused
But you’re possessive.
@mjhindle (Matt Hindle)
“You’re so possessive,”
she fumed as I was busy
apostrophizing.
@EditorMark (Mark Allen)
This is rather poignant, like a message scratched on a prison wall or in a bottle:
Letters have faded
Apostrophe alone left
Echoes of lost sounds.
@Greg_Vines
The runners-up
@ahaikuaday has had plenty of practice, as you can see from this elegant example:
the apostrofly’s
in my eye, and ruin’s all
i e’er see ere sleep.
@Stoepbrak (Christo Steyn) contributed a haiku that contained an Afrikaans apostrophe, afkappingsteken, which literally means “off-chopping sign”, as well as this one:
endangered species
of the punctuation tribe
how it’s earned its keep!
The winner
Apostrophe Vigilante, who tweets as @ApostropheLaw, is clearly an expert and the winning tweet neatly demonstrates how an apostrophe can change the meaning of a sentence.
I’ve run out of food.
I’m going to eat the dogs.
What apostrophe?
A copy of Guardian Style is on its way to the winner. Thanks to everyone who entered a haiku and participated in International Apostrophe Day, which next year will take place on Friday 15 August.
For executives of Tesco, and anyone else who might appreciate a reminder of how to use the apostrophe, here’s a link to last week’s blogpost.
Media: Mind your language | theguardian.com http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2013/aug/21/mind-your-language-haiku
