Grammar watchdog attacks 'ignorant' advert

A giant advertising billboard on one of Ireland’s busiest roads was today criticised by a UK grammar watchdog for its “ignorant” use of English.

The 40ft-wide sign on the N8 near Portlaoise bypass displays the words “Frans Crash Repairs” to advertise a local garage, but omits a crucial apostrophe.

Today the Apostrophe Protection Society in the UK complained that the 3ft-high letters, which are seen by thousands of motorists every day, display an unacceptable and inexcusable lack of punctuation.

Apostrophe Society chairman John Richards said: “This sort of ignorance or laziness towards the English language is something which is being reported to me from almost all English-speaking countries.

“It is inexcusable, largely because I assume it was produced by a professional sign-writer who didn’t know his job. It is unacceptable because nobody bothered to check the accuracy of the sign.”

The crash repairs business could not be contacted through any of the numbers displayed on the billboard.

The Apostrophe Protection Society was established in 2001 by Mr Richards, a former journalist, to preserve the correct use of the punctuation mark in the English language.

Mr Richards was frustrated by the constant misuse of the apostrophe during his latter years as a sub-editor.

He said: “The apostrophe deserves our protection, it is indeed a threatened species.”

Mr Richards has asked members of the public to report other incidents of misuse of the apostrophe to his society which is based in Lincolnshire.

Mr Richards said he receives letters and e-mails from eagle-eyed lovers of the English language from the US, Australia, France, Sweden and Canada.