I love 'The Apprentice'. It seems to me so unlikely that so many self satisfied yet utterly dim-witted people should have volunteered to reveal on national TV how very, very stupid they are.
This week, they were set as a task to conceive a new event for the greetings card industry, and to create a range of cards to capitalise on this event.
The brainwave of the less dim of the two teams was to create 'Singles Day'; a day on which people would celebrate the freedom of the Single by sending their single buddies greetings cards. Now this is not a hopeless concept. In truth, I think it's very plausible.
The best bit, however, was that it took 5 people over 3 hours to decide that there should be an apostrophe after the final 's' of 'Singles'. Like this: Singles' Day. In order to confirm his, they apparently needed to call the Editor of the Daily Telegraph.
Now...you know...I know...everyone on Earth knows...that this is grammatically correct.
But in my view...they were wrong!
It's a marketing choice as much as a grammatical one.
Singles Day is an event. If it takes off it will be named here, there and everywhere. And when it is, the pedantic apostrophe, however correct, will serve only to hinder its clarity.
(Even on a grammatical level, that apostrophe isn't obligatory. Singles' Day - the Singles are the possessive noun, 'owning' the Day. Singles Day - the Singles are the object being celebrated by the subject, the Day.)
Post-rationalise it however you like, but forget the apostrophe. It's just cleaner.
Oops, actually you were right all along, that's what I get for punching keys at random when I'm bored at work, I think they had a discussion about Valentine's day and that's how I got so, so, confused.
Posted by: DR | Friday, 16 May 2008 at 03:19 PM
Hate to be pedantic but it was Valentine's Day, I guess it could be a bit confusing if you didn't know he was a saint. I liked the bit when they pitched the singles' card to the Tescos' bloke, who asked 'Who buys it?'
Posted by: DR | Friday, 16 May 2008 at 03:13 PM