Dear Editor,
The infestation of the recent Heritage Week issue of the Times with apostrophed place names, reminds one of two recent verses of the Bishops Mills anthem ‑
In Bishops Mills we’re beset by apostrophes
Infesting our name from some ancient invoice.
Let us stand up for the rules of toponomy:
call for what’s right with a unified voice.
How many Bishops were meant by possessives?
How many mills did the Middle Creek host?
Let’s not go back through notions regressive,
confused by past accidents ’til we are lost.
‑ but I suppose that if “heritage features” are “mistakes made by our ancestors,” then the ancient invoice counts as such a mistake, and the illegal apostrophes are a charmingly petulant defiance of the rules set out for place names in Canada by the Geographical Names Board.
Fred Schueler.
