johnrhansen said:
Funny how language works, all of its exceptions How somone, somewhere decided something is spelled this way or that, it becomes "proper" and expected from then on. Personally I think if it's possessive, it needs an apostrophe every time. But if some guy back in the 1800s decided that's the way it should be, then that's the way it shall be, until enough people decide differently. Let's start a movement. Always an apostrophe with a possessive! Who's with me! I'll delete the possessive apostrophe until I hear differently. You are judged by your spelling.
Spelling was pretty eclectic until the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when lexicographers started to codify it to make reading and writing easier. The American lexicographers chose some spelling simplifications different from the British versions (color/colour and theater/theatre, for example). Some spelling simplifications didn't really catch on (yet?), such as "thru" for through, and the like.
While it is true that word usage and spelling change over time, much to my ire in some cases, distinguishing between "its" (possessive, exception to the usual apostrophe rule) and "it's" (contraction of "it is") seems logical to me and it's easy to remember. I get more bothered by the misspelling of common homophones than an occasional possessive "it's". Most popular here at MNL is "your" for "you're";
that one really bugs me. And some people just can't handle the difference between "there", "their", and "they're". Also common is "to" for "too"; I guess I should be glad that they don't use "two" for "too"... Another homophone that often gets misspelled is "site" for "sight". And, of course, "break" for "brake" is very popular here, given the subject matter of cars. Even "hear" and "here", "bear" and "bare", and "weather" and "whether" get mixed up, albeit not as frequently as the beloved "your" for "you're". Perhaps such things aren't covered in school nowadays. After all, we have spellcheckers to fix spelling mistakes, "rite"?
English is a weird language. I have considerable sympathy for those learning it as a second language.
Whether or not one chooses to take the time and effort to use correct spelling and grammar in MNL posts, I will say that some of us do notice who writes well and who doesn't (and who takes the time to proofread posts and edit typos, and who doesn't). It does affect one's screen persona and how one is perceived by others. Some care about that and others, apparently, do not.