Alfred Jarry assigned the inclusion of the apostrophe in the orthography, 'Pataphysique and 'Pataphysics, "...to avoid a simple pun" – the pun however, has never been clearly defined. It is generally agreed among Pataphysicians that only when consciously referring to Jarry's texts and his use of the term should the word 'Pataphysics carry the apostrophe – hence our omission with the word Patamechanics and in most places on this website except when quoting Jarry directly and/or authors that (sometimes incorrectly) included the apostrophe.