Big news today… Waterstones has dropped the apostrophe from its name <gasp>. From some responses you’d think the world was coming to an end (apt as it’s 2012 – cats and dogs living together, etc).

The chairman of the Apostrophe Society (I really can’t believe it exists) John Richards has condemned the change, calling it “just plain wrong” and “grammatically incorrect”.

But, is it?

The original Waterstone’s was named after its found, Tim Waterstone. Hence the ‘s on the end of the name indicates that it’s his shop. But it’s not now. It’s just a title. Hence, you can do whatever you want with it and it’s grammatically correct. Surely?