Maybe you saw the stories in the national press about thousands of pounds being spent across Britain to replace street signs owing to incorrect spelling, faulty punctuation and missing information, with 14 councils holding their hands up.
In Brigg we have Kings Avenue (no apostrophe on the nameplates), but wasn't the street named in honour of Dr King? Mr Spring founded the preserves factory but the shops and car park are in Springs Parade (again with no punctuation).
Then there's St Helens Road...and others.
These roads were named long before North Lincolnshire Council came on the scene. However, perhaps someone in authority could make a note to the effect that when the time arrives to replace street signs in Brigg they should look at the punctuation. Plus reviewing whether Chapel Way was intended to be a tribute to former Brigg Vicar of the 1960s/1970s, Canon Roger Chappell? Brigg Town Council thought so when the road was created, but Glanford Borough suggested the name was linked to the nearby chapel in Brigg cemetery.
Isn't it easier just to drop the possessive "s", anyway? We have Magrath Court, not Magrath's - and Churchill Avenue, rather than Churchill's. That cuts out all the confusion.
Where it gets really difficult is street names like James - and we have one of those. It certainly needs an apostrophe, and the current Brigg nameplates are without. So that must be incorrect. But do we go for St James' or St James's? One rule suggests it depends on how you pronounce it, and we have a guide from how the TV and radio presenters refer to Newcastle United FC's stadium.
But back to Brigg...It's passed into local folklore how, decades ago, the old Urban District Council acted quickly to remove a replacement street sign on the wall of the White Horse which had transformed Grammar School Road to Grammer School Road.
Five out of 10, must do better!
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Points of interest:
1. The apostrophe (') was the last punctuation mark to be added to written English - about the 1870's.
2. In the Middle Ages there were no punctuations and 'sentences' just flowed into each other.
3. In spoken English, 'Magrath', as in Magrath Court in Brigg is very often mispronounced. The origin is Irish and 'Magrath' should be spoken without the 'th' at the end; ie 'Magrrar'.
Similarly, 'Gallagher' is Irish and in it
s proper form, it should pronounced.'Galla-her' with the middle 'g' being silent. However, like many words, some names have become aglicised and now many people pronounced the middle 'g'.
3. But here's one to test folk.
The sequence of letters 'ough' often appear in words. But how many ways can 'ough' be pronounced?
A starter for 10 - we have 'rough' and 'cough', but how many other 'ough's' sounds are there? Clue: Read Nige's Blog to get another clue.
For the best answer, did I hear Nige mention Sergeant's somewhere?
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