Dropping the apostrophe....

Levi's is one of the few companies to retain the possessive apostrophe in its name. Most companies have now dropped it: Boots, Tescos, Woolworths, Barclays, Harrods etc. But this omission is a recent thing; as David Crystal points out in his excellent book, The English Language, in the 1930s you would've bought Chambers's Encyclopædia while in the 1970s you would've bought Chambers English Dictionary.

Counter to this trend, some companies retain the apostrophe: Macy's and Kellog's along with Levi's are some of the few that do. In the US there is far more pressure to retain it (all of the companies mentioned here that do are American) - might this be US companies looking for a degree of heritage; perhaps it's an attempt to convey some sort of pedigree?

The British seem to favour its omission when it comes to company names. Waterstones recently dropped the apostrophe from its name amidst cries of despair from grammatical diehards. Perhaps it's an attempt to haul ourselves out of the 19th Century and compete with American commercialism; perhaps we think that it looks too fussy or that it lacks dynamism. Undoubtedly the internet has played its part - what do you do with an apostrophy in a URL?

Just look how we've adopted American work practices and management styles; companies that start the day by forcing their staff into morale building, back patting sessions that may work in the US but don't sit so comfortably with the British worker. I suppose it's all part of the creeping americanisation of British culture - some of it good; some of it not so good.

Have a nice day...