Hi, I'm Minion Fuggedy and this week I have a quick and dirty tip about the apostrophe in

Halloween.

A meaty middle with 9 ways to use apostrophes, or not, and a tidbit about walking up and

down the garden path.

Let's get started.

A listener named Allegri Young asked, what's your take on the apostrophe in Halloween?

Use it or don't use it.

And that's Halloween, H-A-L-L-O-W-E apostrophe, E-N.

Well, one early spelling of Halloween was all Hallows even, in which even meant evening.

The all and the S were dropped, Hallow and even became a closed compound, Hallow even,

and the apostrophe took the place of the V, giving us Hallow, E apostrophe, E-N, H-A-L-L-O-W-E

apostrophe, E-N.

That's just one of the many transitional spellings along the way to Halloween without the apostrophe,

which is the common spelling today, in which the Oxford English Dictionary shows is first

appearing in 1786.

You can certainly use Halloween with the apostrophe between the two E's if you want an 18th century

feel for your party invitations or decorations.

We celebrate Halloween on the last day of October because the holiday was originally tied to

the Celtic calendar, in which November 1st was the start of the New Year.

The Catholic Church later adopted November 1st as All Saints Day, and therefore October

31st is also sometimes called All Saints Eve.

And that was your quick and dirty tip.

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