An Exclamation Over Punctuation

As a former editor, I can be as serious about appropriate punctuation as the next person. In my career, I've been known to passionately discuss the proper usage for a semicolon. However, there's passion and then there's obsession.

During one crazy time period in a former job, I remember the entire edit staff spending weeks (months, actually) debating whether to drop a slash from the name of the publication. It took on a life of its own. Never mind that the slash was not needed and was actually an incorrect usage of that symbol (hee hee), but the talks became heated and way, way over the top. At some point, I completely lost interest because there were better things to do with my time.
A major bookstore chain in England just dropped the apostrophe from its name and added an uppercase letter, going from waterstone's to Waterstones. And cue the uproar.
According to an article on Bookseller.com (click here), the Apostrophe Society has stepped into the fray. The Apostrophe Society? Who knew?
Here's my favorite part: The chairman of that hallowed institution harrumphs, "It's grammatically incorrect. If Sainsbury's and McDonald's can get it right, then why can't Waterstones? You would really hope that a bookshop is the last place to be so slapdash with English."
Can't you just hear the stiff upper lip? I love it.
As an added fun twist, I can just imagine Mr. Chairman reading the report and seeing that Bookseller.com did not use the apostrophe for Waterstones in his own quote. Probably drove him mental.
To review the use of apostrophes, be sure to check out the Apostrophe Society here. There will be a quiz later.