JS Tip 564: Orthography

Yup.

This week’s tip is about orthography. 

What? Bear with us. We’ll explain. 

We’re pausing our discussion of informal leadership. We’ll return to that discussion next week. 

But orthography is the set of conventions we use in writing; it includes spelling and punctuation.

Last week we talked of Father Damien’s service in Hawai’i. 

Notice how we spelled Hawai’i. 

Notice how we included an apostrophe (actually, an ‘okina) between the final two i’s. 

Our friend Gerald Jungling noticed the apostrophe (the ‘okina) and researched the matter. He found this guidance from the United States Board of Geographic Names: 

The name of the state, Hawaii, is not written with an ‘okina between the two i’s, because the Statehood Act in 1959 used the spelling Hawaii. (From the internet)

Gerald is correct. The name of the state is spelled Hawaii. Good catch.

Our respectful response is that Father Damien served in Hawai’i from 1873 to 1889, when the islands were the Kingdom of Hawai’i. Spelled with the ‘okina.  

Gerald’s comment took us to another—we think interesting—discussion.

With the exception of five locations (Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; Ike’s Point, New Jersey; John E’s Pond, Rhode Island; Carlos Elmer’s Joshua View, Arizona; and Clark’s Mountain, Oregon), the Board of Geographic Names has dropped all apostrophes—as possessives—in geographic names. 

So it’s not Harper’s Ferry; it’s Harpers Ferry. It’s not Pike’s Peak; it’s Pikes Peak. But it is Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

To Robert Harper and Zebulon Pike, we apologize.  

We love this stuff. 

Next week, we’ll finish our discussion of informal leadership.

And Gerald, thank you. You’ve taught us something.