Mother's Day Is Spelled Incorrectly, And Nobody Cares
May 8, 2011
Throughout my life, I have been a syntax and language stickler. I've always spelled words and written sentences that would make my English teachers proud provided I knew the grammar rule when writing. Because of this, I've always spelled Mothers and Fathers days the correct way: with the apostrophe on the end of the word: (Mothers' Day). I did this throughout high school and college and didn't think much of why everyone else was spelling it wrong. Why didn't I consider why I was the only one spelling it correctly? Because growing up in Louisiana, you get used to seeing things spelled wrong, even in newspapers. Our local rag was referred to as "The Daily Idiot" instead of The Daily Iberian by my father who was as strict about grammar as I am.
Today, I decided to see why even after living outside the South, people I knew and people in the media were spelling Mothers' and Fathers' days wrong. If you're not a grammarphile, let me explain it to you. The days in question are to celebrate all mothers or fathers in the country. Not just one. Therefore, the apostrophe comes after the "s" to indicate that the word is plural possessive.
I learned today that the reason it is spelled incorrectly is because the president who created the holiday spelled it incorrectly! Taken from http://www.eng-lang.co.uk/apostrophes.htm
Established by Presidential proclamation in the United States, and spelt Mother's, so that's pretty much definitive for American usage. For the rest of us, and for fathers, we have to decide whether it's a day to remember one's mother (Mother's Day), or a day on which people remember their mothers (Mothers' Day). It seems unduly pedantic to depart from American usage, so I prefer Mother's Day, Father's Day, and so on.
George W Bush re-issued the proclamation in 2001, and there's plenty of background on the Web.
I guess if Bush had been a little more concerned with the English language, that poor grammar decision might have been changed. However, since the whole country is spelling the holidays incorrectly on purpose, I suppose I will have to as well. You heard it here first. Natalie is misspelling something knowingly and reluctantly!
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