The ‘Okina is NOT a Backwards Apostrophe.
An original work and concept by Fred, March 2009, freddyhonolulu@hotmail.com
Mister Apostrophe and How He Becomes an ‘Okina.
Sometimes the ‘okina is described as a backwards apostrophe (see quotes below), however that is an incorrect description of the ‘okina. Fortunately, Mister Apostrophe does an incredible impersonation of an ‘okina and he will show us how he does it. Maybe, some other day, we can prevail upon him to do his hilarious Don Ho and Richard Nixon impersonations. He also does an excellent Peter Lorre, but for now, let me introduce Mister Apostrophe.
This is the amazing Mister Apostrophe. 
He is a happy, optimistic and good looking fellow. He looks forward; forward through the sentence, to the end of the sentence.
When Mister Apostrophe looks back
to the beginning of a sentence, he becomes backwards Mister Apostrophe, but he is not imitating an ‘okina. A backwards apostrophe is NOT an ‘okina.
When Mister Apostrophe turns upside-down and stands on his head,
he is doing his excellent impersonation of an ‘okina. An ‘okina is an upside-down apostrophe.
Mahalo nui loa, e Mī Komaluna.
Parking Analogy
If you are still not convinced and think there is really no difference between backwards and upside-down and it is just a matter of semantics; I offer the following illustration.
Suppose you park your car in your regular parking spot. 
While you are away from your car, someone takes it for a short joy-ride. Shortly there after, your car is returned to its parking spot, unharmed and in the same condition.
Besides missing just a couple gallons of gasoline, the car is parked differently in the parking spot. Would you consider there being any difference between your car being parked backwards
or upside-down?
Obviously, there is a tremendous difference between the two orientations. While upside-down is NOT a good orientation for a car; upside-down is the proper and correct orientation for an apostrophe, if you want it to be an ‘okina.
Below: Here are some examples of the ‘okina being incorrectly described.
Actually, I like the booklet All About Hawaiian by Albert J. Schütz very much. It is a very good primer of the Hawaiian language, I only disagree with the author about the ‘okina being a reversed apostrophe. And who am I to disagree with Albert J. Schütz? I'm just a lowly beginning Hawaiian language student and Albert J. Schütz is a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Hey, who are you gonna believe, a linguistics professor or me?
The U.S. Postal Service 2009 commemorative 50th anniversary statehood stamp and how the ʻokina is incorrectly depicted.
The ‘okina is properly depicted as an upside down apostrophe. A curled apostrophe looks like a little number nine (9), so the ‘okina looks like a little number six (6). A straight line ‘okina should have the same orientation as a forward slash ( / ), pointing roughly between 1 and 2 o'clock. And if there is a thicker or heavier end, it should be at the bottom. Read my story about how an ʻokina should look or my article about "The Weird and Wacky ‘Okina" by finding the link on my ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i page. The image below shows how the ‘okina is incorrectly depicted on the USPS stamp. Here is a Star Bulletin story about the stamp and a story about how the "Typo on stamp sickens designer."
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