# Attention illiterate's: Plural's do not contain apostrophe's **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 14, 2002, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406 "2002-09-14T07:23:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/21 "2002-09-14T18:51:37Z")
Hey, you think **I’m** being anal? How about this? [http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/](http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/) - “The Apostrophe Protection Society” They have a whole society devoted to it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/22 "2002-09-14T20:10:58Z")
> [@](#): > > But how do you pronounce it? “This is low-ess car” or “this is low-es-essz car”? The first way makes you sound like Tarzan. At the very least, if you SAY the final “s”, then SPELL OUT the final “s”. How about a compromise? When we want to refer to something belonging to Lois, we’ll wreite Lois". The first apostrophe denotes the possesive, the second replaces the missing S? ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/23 "2002-09-14T21:01:31Z")
Printed on the wall here at school, we have a copy of a comic from “Bob the Angry Flower”, a strip in the local “hip” rag of See magazine. It explains succinctly the use of the apostrophe: [![](http://angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif) ](http://angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif) I find it helps loads! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/24 "2002-09-14T21:14:48Z")
Under AP style, “Lois\*\*’\*\*” is correct. It grates on my nerves, and I try to follow that rule only while I’m at work. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/25 "2002-09-14T21:25:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nanoda \* > Printed on the wall here at school, we have a copy of a comic from “Bob the Angry Flower”, a strip in the local “hip” rag of See magazine. I love it! It should be tatooe’d (just kidding) on everyone’s\* forehead. - Note correct use of possessive apostrophe (I hope) ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/26 "2002-09-14T23:12:26Z")
I don’t think it’s ignorance. I just think people don’t proofread. High status individuals like me never do: (Quoted from somewhere) High-status individuals send short, curt emails as though they are trying to “minimize contact” with others. In fact, emails which are unevenly capitalized and generally sloppy are most likely to be from CEO’s. Midstatus individuals send longer, earnest, argumentative emails, explaining or defending their point of view. Senior managers, according to Owens, take longest to reply, and tend not to use the cc. function, implying that they use a “personal touch”. Lowest status individuals send email jokes throughout the company, and use emoticons. These people offer the company an important service, since they are building important social relationships, according to Owens: but they may be sealing their fate. ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/27 "2002-09-14T23:39:17Z")
I think the proliferation has a lot to do with people whose first language is not English. Since only English forms its plurals in this way, adding the apostrophe makes it look like English to them. I remember seeing, for example, a sign on a store in Santiago, Chile that said “Liquor’s Store.” ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/28 "2002-09-14T23:59:01Z")
I hope Dick doesn’t get his ball or ball('s/s) in an uproar, but a whole pit thread about ! \<\<\<—That? Truly a bit much. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![PosterChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@PosterChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PosterChild)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/29 "2002-09-15T02:46:38Z")
I had several English teachers teach me that **James’** and **James’s** are both correct and “Jameses” just sounds weird. It’s James ball, dam nit! (But where is it?) 😉 PC ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/30 "2002-09-15T12:48:20Z")
A friend had some T-shirts made with one of my photos on the front, showing a neighbor’s hand-made sign that says: Beware of Dog’s About half the people that see one of these shirts laugh and say, “Beware of Dog’s what?”. The other half shrug and say, “I don’t get it”. Oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/31 "2002-09-15T13:13:34Z")
And while we’re at it, “your” is possessive, “you’re” is a contraction of “you are”. If I see one more hand-lettered sign that says something like “you’re place for saving’s!” I’m going to commit mayhem. ---
**Author:** ![Coilean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@Coilean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coilean)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/32 "2002-09-15T18:23:28Z")
Hey **PosterChild** , ever had an English teacher tell you that frogs don’t have wings? ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/33 "2002-09-15T19:58:45Z")
**Posterchild** , how dare you enter this thread with a tagline like that! ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/34 "2002-09-15T20:39:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chula \* > \*\ ***Posterchild** , how dare you enter this thread with a tagline like that! \*\* Oh, man. I missed that one.😃 ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/35 "2002-09-15T20:49:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chula \* > I think the proliferation has a lot to do with people whose first language is not English. Since only English forms its plurals in this way, You lost me. Most English plurals are formed by adding an “s”, and this is not unique. I believe French and Spanish (to name 2) form many plurals the same way. > [@](#): > > adding the apostrophe makes it look like English to them. I remember seeing, for example, a sign on a store in Santiago, Chile that said “Liquor’s Store.” But since NEITHER language forms its plurals with apostrophes, why would anyone think it “looks like English”?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/36 "2002-09-15T21:10:38Z")
> [@](#): > > I remember seeing, for example, a sign on a store in Santiago, Chile that said “Liquor’s Store.” Besides what **blowero** said, that’s not actually bad English. It’s definetly non-standard: most English speakers would phrase it “Liquor Store”, turning “Liquor” into an adjective. In this case, Liquor is being used as a noun: the store was Liquor’s store. Gramatically okay, idiomatically incorrect. Anyway, as much as I’d like to think it, I doubt that “most” of these problems are caused by ESL people. I’ve met far, far too many native-born Americans who can’t put together a coherent sentence to save their lives. A lot of them on the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406/37 "2002-09-15T21:36:00Z")
I was always taught it should read “Plural’s does not contains apostrophe’s” Just trying to help… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-illiterates-plurals-do-not-contain-apostrophes/128406.md?page=1)