Band Names: Where Does the Punctuation Go?
Someone I heard speak recently brought up the song “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” He said he was pretty sure it was by Guns N’ Roses. Wrong. Poison.
From my husband’s personal collection. Note how the apostrophe is dropped here.
I forgave him. Moving on…
He again mentioned the (wrong) band name later in his talk. And because I’m a word nerd, this led me down the path of how Guns N’ Roses writes their band name. Is it…
- Guns N Roses
- Guns ‘n Roses
- Guns ‘N’ Roses
Apostrophes commonly stand for missing letters: Think of “I’m” where the ’ represents the a that’s dropped when you make the contraction. So ‘n’ would make sense to replace the a and d. But I knew that didn’t look right.
As it turns out, all of those listed above are wrong. It’s:
- Guns N’ Roses
Who cares?
Well, the band does for one. Discerning fans likely do too. And if your audience is made up of those discerning fans, it pays to be accurate.
Why accuracy matters
Whether it’s in a band name like GNR (no apostrophe in the abbreviation), a company name like P&G (not P and G), or a location name like Westward Ho! in the UK (yes, it really does have the ! in its name), accuracy matters because:
- It shows you’re on top of things! (Also called being professional)
- It helps to build trust and credibility with your audiences.
- Inaccuracy can make you look foolish, careless or lazy.
There’s a difference between making a mistake and being careless. Be careful as much as possible and your mistakes will be fewer.
As a wise friend of mine once said…
Mistakes are inevitable. Carelessness is not.
____________
- When’s the last time you listened to a big hair band?
- What bands can you think of with research-worthy punctuation in their names? (Portugal. The Man comes to mind. I love that unexpected period.)
- Have you ever been grave hunting?
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