Your bad

Let's never come here again because it will never be as much fun.
--Charlotte, Lost in Translation
I am shocked and appalled. The apostrophe, and by association, the English language, have suffered a public blow last week on the widely syndicated TV show Lost. Did you see it?

Now I'm not one to lament about the decline of our precious language for reasons historical or nostalgic, but language is one of our best tools for making ourselves understood, and when the apostrophe is used correctly, it aids in understanding. When misused, it directs the reader away from the intent.

And I know that my indignance may seem shallow since I show no immunity from spelling or grammatical errors. In fact, there's a good chance that this post will turn up an error (be forewarned that if you notify me, I will correct it, albeit with credit). Nevertheless, you can be assured that if my operating budget were that of Lost, this page would read like it came out of Strunk and White.

Let me set up the error: Sun and Jin are a Korean wife and husband stranded on the island. About 35 minutes into the episode, Sun is having a flashback to a physician delivering news about her husband Jin. The doctor says something in Korean, and underneath, his subtitle reads:

"You're husband..."

To quote "Ross" from a show I like a little less,

Y-O-U-apostrophe-R-E means "you are". Y-O-U-R means "your!"

And to quote GOB from one I like more,

Come on!