Talk:Apologetic apostrophe

message: We don't have any specific sources for this article, and some of the statements seem either POV or misguided. Who's to say whether the apostrophe in some words is "apologetic" or simply used for diaresis-type reasons? Gien might be pronounced Gyne or Geen, when it should be Gee-en (please forgive my perception of Scots vowel, if I am misunderstood). At this moment, we simply don't know. Please add proper citations. -- Boothman Talk 19:03, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: So how would "gien" be pronounced Mr. Arabic Name? I am on about diaresis, an apostrophe to signify that "ie" is pronounced as two vowels rather than one dipthong. -- Boothman /tɔːk/ 19:14, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Which diphthongless vowel? By the way, I have an English name because this is the English Wikipedia. -- Boothman /tɔːk/ 19:39, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

text: Which dipthongless vowel? Short "i", rhyming gien with "bin" or long "ee" rhyming gien with "seen"? Or another? I am simply hypothesising that the apostrophe was placed there to make it "gee-en" (with a schwa for the e). -- Boothman /tɔːk/ 19:48, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: That's all I needed, "gien" rhymes with "teen". I never said "Scots ortography [sic] is not the same as English" (whatever that means), and I never said owt about it being short for "given", although the pronunciation may have been similar seen as the two words "given" and "gien" are from the same root. -- Boothman /tɔːk/ 19:55, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

text: I would carry on arguing with you, but it is like talking to a brick wall. -- Boothman /tɔːk/ 20:23, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

text: I'm not sure whether I should comment on this old argument since it has stopped, but to clear things up... It is indeed pronounced "gee-en" in my dialect at least. But the apostrophe is still inappropriate because the basic word is gie ("gee") so - as is my understanding - if the apostrophe was going to be anywhere, without being apologetic, it would surely be after the e (perhaps gie'en) compare to the Scots word e'en (even) as opposed to een (eye), which is pronounced differently. However, this is purely from a non-expert point of view, and is entirely irrelevant since the fact remains that traditionally the Past participle of gie is spelt gien (which can be sourced). Scroggie (talk) 05:39, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Unreferenced

message: I know a dialect of Scots is spoken in Northern Ireland (Ulster Scots), but this article seems to be about Scots in general, with all the references being to Scots in Scotland, as far as I can see. Surely either both WikiProjects Scotland and Northern Ireland, or just WikiProject Scotland, would be more appropriate? I haven't edited anything because I'm not sure how the whole project thing works, and I don't want to step on anyone's toes! Thirda 14:13, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Northern Ireland?

message: What does this apostrophe have to do with apologies or apologizing? I don't understand why it's named this way.--Sonjaaa (talk) 01:47, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: By using an apostrophe one apologises for not writing 'proper' English. 84.134.174.244 (talk) 01:15, 21 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Why is it called apologetic?

message: In the lead section, when it says "The use of the apologetic apostrophe became less widespread" and "it is now considered unacceptable", it is not totally clear whether this means, for example, that "gi'e" changed to "gie" or to "give". I assume it means the former, but, as I say, it is not absolutely clear for people who know nothing about the subject.
The pointed dig about "unfortunately gave the effect of Scots being a divergent or inferior form of English rather than a separate language system" is rather silly since words like "gi'e", "wi'" etc. very obviously are forms of English — or, if you prefer, both English and Scots word forms are divergent forms of some language that has no politically neutral name. To claim that "gi'e" and "wi'" are words from a different language just because they are pronounced slightly differently in Scotland is completely ridiculous. Perhaps the author realised this and added the weasly word "system" to try to obfuscate the error. 86.160.209.85 (talk) 03:43, 21 January 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: The source cited used the term language system. Perhaps linguistic system? 84.134.173.129 (talk) 19:52, 21 February 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Could be clearer 

message: Uses "a" as an example (without an apostrophe).  Surely the intended example was "a'"?  I'm not fluent, so I'm reluctant to change it, lest I miss some subtlety.--Wcoole (talk) 01:11, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Right you are. I've added the apostrophe. Thanks for pointing that out! —Granger (talk · contribs) 01:15, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  First sentence