Apostrophes and Hyphens: a Liddle Issue

Seldom do I write an article about Trump's bad grammar. After all, there's certainly bigger fish to fry, especially now, than misspellings, random capitalization and weird syntax. There is however, always a "but"...but Donnie made such a big deal about the criticism he received regarding his use of the word Liddle' that I had to weigh in.

Trump was criticizing Re. Adam Schiff on Twitter, referring to him as "Liddle' Adam Schiff", with an apostrophe at the end of the word "Liddle". He was criticized by CNN for misspelling the word "little", although it's evident from his previous use of the spelling that he meant to do it that way. He somehow believes that "liddle" is more insulting than "little". Sure. Okay.

That's when it got weird. Weirder than normal.

Trump, unable to stomach any criticism, shot back on Twitter that he used the word Liddle' not Liddle, emphasizing that there was a hyphen at the end of the word.

No Donnie, that's an apostrophe, not a hyphen.

Even as an apostrophe it makes no sense. There are several reasons to use an apostrophe:

• As a possessive Trump's corruption
• In a contraction to indicate missing letter - "don't" for "do not"
• Similar to a contraction, but to indicate a colloquial usage 'em for them

Very seldom is an apostrophe to be used at the end of a word. A word that ends in "s" that is also a possessive sometimes has an apostrophe after the "s". It can also be used, as in a contraction, if the missing letter is at the end of a word. Trump's nickname for Ted Cruz was "Lyin' Ted"

There's obviously no missing letter at the end of "Liddle", nor is it a possessive. It is incorrect. End of discussion. Not to mention his spelling of "describing" as "discribing" in his tirade over being criticized over his spelling.

This is what he's focused on as impeachment hearings get underway.