“Ma’am” and “fo’c’sle” are written representations of spoken contractions – the way they appear on the page is how they’re pronounced. “Gov’t” and “int’l” are only abbreviated that way in writing – you’d never say them like that.
It would appear that the illiterati have unilaterally decided that the plural of any foreign-looking word or of one ending with a vowel [e.g. the almost ubiquitous “pizza’s”] should have an apostrophe because, well, it looks better, dunnit?
Ever get stung?
Aha, thanks.
I think I’m going to start saying “gov’t” and “int’l”, just to piss people off.
I was wondering if that was the case with “knive’s and forks”; the vowel on the end somehow makes the difference.
Sorry, I’m not a condosexual.
I’ve got to take my…mind…out of its gutter