Why do we still have so many apostrophes in English?

[Boliviabae]

It takes so much longer to type anything on the phone.

Apostrophe's were originally in place to show two words shortened into one. But the shortened versions of the words have been in the English langauge for so long now, why do we need the apostrophes.

The word 'Dont' for example, is easily understandable, without an apostrophe.

People are pointing out that your grammar and punctuation appear to be poor, which rather undermines your argument as it seems that you want rid of punctuation because you can't use it properly.

Focusing on "im" for a moment - phonics immediately rules this out as an alternative for I'm, as does the fact that the personal pronoun "I" is always capitalised. This makes it clear that we are using the long "igh" instead of the short "i" sound. Removing the capital letter would really screw up kids learning to read and write simple vowel-consonant words. Also, it looks awful and hurts my eyes!

Whilst I agree predictive text/auto type "corrections" are a pain in the backside, that's an argument to improve those, not to totally change the English language! (Or for people to not be lazy when typing. It's not the 90s where you're limited to a certain number of characters in a text. They extend now!)

People have given you multiple explanations as to why punctuation matters, you just don't want to listen. You asked AIBU - the answer is loud and clear.

Pp - qest, qestion etc...just no!!!! They hurt my eyes almost as much as "im."

Edited, ironically, for a grammatical mistake. Also due to stupid predictive text "correcting" my punctuation.

I came on to say this. I think that Dutch uses more apostrophes than English.
They are used to indicate possession, to join two words to form a contraction, to make a plural of a foreign/ borrowed word, and even worse, sometimes words start with them.
Eg. 's ochtends - belonging to mornings.

😂ov a'll the thing's to moan. about

The apostrophe has never been used to show two words shorted into one - it conveys there is a missing letter.

E.g. did not => didn’t [ie the ‘o’ is missing]

In the possessive form it ALSO indicates that a letter is missing. The possessive in old English was conveyed by added ‘es’ to a noun.

So “Johnes hat” would mean the hat belonging to John, now abbreviated to “John’s hat”. So yes, languages evolve and this is how English has evolved. You need to get over it and stop trying to dictate to English speakers how their language should function.

Having been brought with a lot of family members with dyslexia, it was always drummed into me that I must be very careful with S&G so that I didn't make life any more difficult for them.

So I would say that if you care about people with dyslexia, you will be extra careful to eradicate S&G mistakes, including proofreading very carefully before posting.

I have also 'pointed out' to other posters that their grammar and punctuation is also poor.

I think it is ridiculous to expect people's grammar and punctuation to be perfect on a mobile phone. The letter keys on phones are tiny for a start and fingers can slip when typing.

I see that you've realised that, as you have also made a grammar mistake.

Sometimes they change the whole meaning of the sentence.

Well I counted at least five errors in your OP and no-one jumped on you.

Really ? Really?

Did you read the thread pet.

It's full of people who have "jumped" on me.

Poor Lynne Truss; seeing incorrect apostrophe use, and having a name similar to Liz Truss.

I find it bizarre when people don't read the thread, and then boldly say something that is completely incorrect.

Just because grammar can be hard why lower the standard?

It may be a truism but ‘a bad workman blames his tools’.

If you can’t handle a mobile phone maybe it’s time to use another tool.

If that's a question, it needs a question mark.

Because there is a Society of dedicated volunteers who find lost and missing apostrophes wandering about the countryside. They take them in and build them up at their own cost and some derision from the uncouth until they have enough breeding stock and then release them.
This is why they have not died out.

Are you going to say that to the other poster who made a grammar mistake on her phone then?

Your behaviour in picking up grammar mistakes should be consistent.

No because I don't care. I am on a mobile phone and I never said that I wanted to use perfect English.

You don't control me Kirova.

Some languages use them for different things than we do and more things than we do!

In Dutch they are used for plurals where the singular ends in a vowel (e.g. photos is spelt foto's). They also use omissive and possessive apostrophes like English.

Other languages also make use of accents, the umlaut, circumflex etc. They're not there for shits and giggles - they guide meaning or pronunciation or both!

My son taught me the difference between less and fewer.

if you can count it, it’s fewer. If you can’t it’s less.

ie. There were fewer boys in the room than yesterday. (You can physically count how many people were in the room)

It was less busy than yesterday. You can’t count ‘busy’.

I would imagine nearly all of us are on a mobile phone. No excuse.

Does it really matter, if people can understand the sentence when either word is used.

Are apostrophes acceptable when swearing?

"Fuckin' 'ell Denise, your fella's a right knob 'ead!" Should it be "Fuckinell Denise, your fellas a right knobead!"?

I was replying to you as you were the person who made the point I wished to address.

And it speaks volumes that you call it 'bullshit' to have consideration for people with dyslexia who particularly struggle when faced with poor S&G.