Les, perhaps they meant This Country and were pulling out the 'h'. Apostrophes and the use there of are important to create a clear and concise sentence. They are not optional, they indicate a possesive or the loss of a letter (the its, it's debate notwithstanding). Changing the use of a word is not the same thing and indeed may evolve with the language. I am only 35 but look back fondly on my grammer classes and wonder what in the world we are teaching kids these days. How many people can use there/their/they're properly these days? Makes me nuts.