The Pronunciation Demonstrations
Recordings of the six methods of audibly indicating the apostrophe in the Society's name, prepared for the instruction of the public.
The question of how the Society's name is properly to be spoken occupied the Society from 1873 to 1962, and is treated at length in the History. Since the Audibility Resolution of 1962, the Society's settled doctrine has been that the apostrophe is, as a matter of correctly-spoken English, audibly distinct from the unmarked plural, and that any Fellow uttering the name without producing the audible distinction has uttered the name in error.
The six historical methods are demonstrated below. Each recording has been verified by the Curator as a correct performance of its method.
The Cambridge Pause
1881
A brief silence between the s and the following word, of sufficient length to indicate the apostrophe and insufficient length to suggest hesitation.
The Bedford Glide
1894
A faint upward inflection on the final syllable of "Pedants", understood by the initiated and inaudible to everyone else.
The Loft Hiss
1903 · suppressed 1907
An audibly extended sibilant, after the Secretary of the period. Suppressed by formal motion on grounds of vulgarity. The demonstration below is provided for scholarly purposes only.
The Footnoted Utterance
1923
The speaker pronounces the name normally, then immediately appends the parenthetical "— possessive, of course."
The Written Substitution
1948 · abandoned 1951
The speaker traces an apostrophe in the air with the right index finger. Abandoned when it was observed that an apostrophe traced by a right-handed Fellow appears, to a Fellow seated opposite, in mirror image. The audio component is reproduced below; the gesture is left to the listener.
The Bracegirdle Convention
proposed 1957 · never adopted
A faint glottal stop where the apostrophe would fall. Never adopted; its partisans maintain that this is because it has never been correctly performed, including by them.
Listeners reporting an inability to perceive any difference between the six demonstrations, or between any demonstration and the unmarked plural, are referred to the Resolution of 1962, which holds that the difficulty of producing the audible distinction is, far from being an objection to the doctrine, the strongest possible argument for it. Complaints regarding the recordings may be addressed to the Errors Register, where they will be rejected.