Apostrofascists are bound to lose...

In the extended dance remix comments of my post on apostrophes wherein uniforall coined the lovely word "apostrofascist" to describe me and people like me, agrumer suggested that it was not possible to misconstrue the meaning of a word in which an apostrophe was incorrectly added or omitted due to carelessness or ignorance. He implies that complaint about misuse is mere snobbery, even if he is too polite to explictly say so. While I consider the point arguable, I also think it's not a valid criticism because it's still a problem for me even if I can deduce the intended meaning.

I now quote myself, since it's my journal and I can do as I please...

[Apostrophe misuse] is often the bellwether that the rest of the writing will have grammatical problems. As an unreconstructed apostrofascist, I find I have a more adversarial relationship with texts that fall down on this rule. I read them defensively, expecting at any time to have to stop my train of thought, repair the damaged trestle to the state the careless construction crew thought they left it in (based on my best guess), and attempt to get up a good head of steam for the rest of the trip. Like a ridiculously extended metaphor, sometimes it's not worth the bother.

I can't go near nicoleallee's question regarding similar comics covering basic comma rules, for I am a chronic abuser of them.

Oh, and apparently Bob disagrees with sirvalence's position regarding apostrophes.