AnnaStrophic,

Thank you for the link.

My first dear, departed post appears to have been stinking up the place, so I decided to toss it out. I tried to delete it entirely, but the system wouldn’t allow me to do that. I deleted the title and the text hoping that would remove it from view. But, of course, that didn’t work either. Instead, it left something of an annoying mystery to those who see its empty parking space with the name “Dgeigh” painted on the curb – not what I was hoping for. I’ve tried to find a way back to it to reinstate it, but the parking space is all I can find: no title, no text, no dice.

I found a copy of the original text though. If you would like to see it again, here it is:

Submitted for Your Arbitration

Hello! This is the first time I've posted anything on this site, so I hope my thoughts are in the right spirit.

I belong to a local credit union named "[City Name] Area Teachers Credit Union", a name that has always annoyed me. It is my contention that there is an apostrophe missing from the name after the "s" in "Teachers". It also seems to me that the truant apostrophe puts the term "teacher" in a bad light, casting serious doubt on the qualifications of the teachers who are members.

Years ago I used to work at the credit union, and would, on occasion bring up the topic of the missing apostrophe. One wouldn't think that a humble apostrophe could kill a conversation quite so quickly - blank stares all around.

Your thoughts?

Apropos - and this may be kicking a dead dog, so to speak, but - the credit union also proudly advertises that it offers "Safety Deposit Boxes". What exactly is a "safety" deposit box? Is it anything like a "safe" deposit box? Or is it more like a "safety" pin?

I know, I know: descriptive vs. prescriptive (and if it weren't for the word "Teachers" in the credit union's name it wouldn't be so annoying), but one would think that the good-business side of a financial institution, trying to represent itself and its customers (educators) in the best way possible, would try to adhere to the prescriptive use of the language rather than the descriptive use, a use that borders on the colloquial.

Thoughts?