Ignition and Liftoff

Ok, let's get right into it. What's the deal with otherwise well-educated people who don't know the difference between "its" and "it's" ? It's enough to drive you crazy. Ad writers, billboard writers, bloggers, reporters: it doesn't seem to matter. The most common error is to use "it's" in place of "its". "The earth completes its orbit around the sun every (approximately) 365 days." "It's" should only be used where where "it is" can be substituted in a sentence: "It's me!"

"It's" is NOT the possessive form of "it", either. In other words, "In my battle with the dragon, I knocked a tooth from its mouth." That's "its", not "it's", any more than your's or our's would be an acceptable possessive. So, it's "That toothbrush is yours", not "That toothbrush is your's."

I'm no English major; in fact, I never took an English course in college. Therefore, I'm hardly an expert. But a little basic high school English goes a long way. Poor grammatical usage isn't just sloppy, it shows a basic lack of intelligence. And that brings me to an old adage: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." But I digress.

And this speaks to the overuse of apostrophes in general: "Banana's for sale." A banana's WHAT is for sale? Or did you mean to say you have bananas (plural) for sale? It doesn't take much intelligence to sound intelligent. And it takes no intelligence at all to sound like an idiot.

OK, I feel better already, having gotten this off my chest. Your comments?