Apostrophe Protection Society Condemns Waterstone's For Dropping Apostrophe

Posted on January 14, 2012

The UK's Waterstone's bookstore is dropping the apostrophe from its name. The company says removing the apostrophe makes the name more versatile for the digital world.

James Daunt, managing director of Waterstones, said in a statement, "Waterstones without an apostrophe is, in a digital world of URLs and email addresses, a more versatile and practical spelling. It also reflects an altogether truer picture of our business today which, while created by one, is now built on the continued contribution of thousands of individual booksellers."

The BBC reports that the move has been condemned by the Apostrophe Protection Society. John Richards, the chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society, told the Telegraph, "It's just plain wrong. It's grammatically incorrect. If Sainsbury's and McDonald's can get it right, then why can't Waterstones. You would really hope that a bookshop is the last place to be so slapdash with English."

Waterstones also has a new logo, which is a capital W in a Baskerville serif font. Waterstones was acquired by Russian banker Alexander Mamut last May.