The Press: Its v. It’s

A daring proposal caught the editors of the New York Times in mid-breath. “At the risk of losing my reputation,” wrote Reader Doris Benardete from Brooklyn, “I advocate the dropping of the apostrophe. . . .”

Why, that very day, said Reader Benardete, she had found “its” and “it’s” hopelessly mixed up in an advertisement in the Times. The apostrophe, she hinted, is about as useful as the vermiform appendix.

The embattled apostrophiles seized their pens and rushed to the defense. The Times offered editorially to split the difference, ban the apostrophe in plurals like 1890s “whether our own proofroom is for us or against us.” It added a thank-you-ma’am: after bowing for years under questions of solemn import, the world could well use some small controversies.