# Heart's on Sleeve **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2026, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248 "2026-03-06T01:58:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/1 "2026-03-06T01:58:58Z")
Apostrophe or not? I asked someone brilliant and they say it means more than one heart. I say it means the one heart is on the actual sleeve. (This is a hoodie I designed. Slubby heather Red, white curvy letters “Heart’s on Sleeve") I’m gonna sew a really red heart on the sleeve. Cute, huh? (Yes I know I’m a genius of design. Stop it!!) But now I’m afraid I’ve made a grammatical error. Oh my. ❤ ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/2 "2026-03-06T02:00:21Z")
The apostrophe is correct if what you’re meaning to say is, “Heart is on sleeve”. If you mean plural hearts, then it’s “Hearts on sleeve”. No apostrophe. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/3 "2026-03-06T02:01:48Z")
I kinda knew it. I told ‘em so. Yay! ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/4 "2026-03-06T02:25:29Z")
It’s such a simple rule, but few seem to understand it. If you use an apostrophe, then the phrase, “it is,” _must_ make sense. It doesn’t make sense to say, “The dog is stealing it’s dinner,” because you’d never say, “The dog is stealing it is dinner.” No apostrophe. “Its” denotes possession, so you’d say, “The dog is stealing its dinner.” “It’s” means “it is.” Congrats on getting it right over your brilliant friend. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/5 "2026-03-06T02:31:17Z")
I’ve never encountered this construction. I’ve always seen it as part of a larger phrase, “John wears his heart on his sleeve”, or the like. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/6 "2026-03-06T02:32:09Z")
You could just make it be “Heart on Sleeve”. It may not be grammatically correct, but it sounds better to my ear for that kind of emotional meaning. Sometimes the more grammatically correct, the less emotional it becomes. For instance “The heart is on the sleeve” is the most correct, but it doesn’t evoke much emotion. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/7 "2026-03-06T02:33:52Z")
Well, you never encountered it because I coined it. I don’t charge for use. So feel free. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/8 "2026-03-06T06:45:28Z")
Personally, I’ve never tried it, because it just sounds so messy. And fatal. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/9 "2026-03-06T08:09:23Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > It’s such a simple rule, but few seem to understand it. > > If you use an apostrophe, then the phrase, “it is,” _must_ make sense. It doesn’t make sense to say, “The dog is stealing it’s dinner,” because you’d never say, “The dog is stealing it is dinner.” > > No apostrophe. “Its” denotes possession, so you’d say, “The dog is stealing its dinner.” > > “It’s” means “it is.” It can be confusing to some because the apostrophe normally indicates the possessive case, as in “the dog’s breakfast”. So it’s sort of forgivable to think that “it’s” is a possessive case, rather than the contraction of “it is”. But you’d think that English speakers would figure it out after a while, say, after a lifetime of reading and writing English! I find the misuse of “its” and “it’s” very annoying. I’ll sometimes do it myself, but it’s always the result of a careless typo. > [@filmore](#): > > You could just make it be “Heart on Sleeve”. It may not be grammatically correct, but it sounds better to my ear for that kind of emotional meaning. Yes, and it’s not really ungrammatical – it’s a sentence fragment, not a proper sentence, but it’s fine as a slogan. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/10 "2026-03-06T10:37:00Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I’ll sometimes do it myself, but it’s always the result of a careless typo. My phone’s autocorrect _always_ tries to change its into it’s. Supremely annoying. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/11 "2026-03-06T12:32:56Z")
If you mean a singular heart, then I’d say “heart on sleeve” - by analogy to “hand on heart”, but that’s a matter or preference/style rather than grammar ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/12 "2026-03-06T16:11:19Z")
The apostrophe could also be correctly used if your intention was to say that the “on sleeve” belongs to the heart. Or that Ann and Nancy Wilson released a hitherto unknown album titled “on Sleeve”. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/13 "2026-03-06T16:12:31Z")
Oh I like the sound of that. I remember an old decoration, (maybe Victorian) of “Hand and Heart”. It would be a hand with a heart in the palm. I may have to rethink this. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/14 "2026-03-06T17:10:18Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > It can be confusing to some because the apostrophe normally indicates the possessive case, as in “the dog’s breakfast”. I suppose. The “it is” rule is infallible, though. That said: > [@Cervaise](#): > > My phone’s autocorrect _always_ tries to change its into it’s. Supremely annoying. This happens on my laptop, too. Both Word and Google change it wrong. They’ve never fixed their mistake in all these years, so even people trying to get it right hardly stand a chance because they trust these erroneous “corrections”. Makes me nuts. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Oh I like the sound of that. Good. Best to avoid the whole apostrophe debacle entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/15 "2026-03-07T16:11:47Z")
I don’t think it’s a simple rule. Sure, you can say that the apostrophe is only right if “it is” would work, but you can also say that the apostrophe is only right if “belonging to it” would work. By the example of nearly every other possessive in English, that looks like it should be valid. “It’s/its” follows one standard pattern, and violates another, and it’s easy to remember that, but there’s no shortcut for remembering which standard pattern is the one it violates. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearts-on-sleeve/1028248/16 "2026-03-07T17:34:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **but you can also say that the apostrophe is only right if “belonging to it”** would work. By the example of nearly every other possessive in English, that looks like it should be valid. “It’s/its” follows one standard pattern, and violates another, and it’s easy to remember that, but there’s no shortcut for remembering which standard pattern is the one it violates. (Emphasis mine.) I understand the point you’re making, but you’ve only demonstrated why you _can’t_ also say that. It doesn’t work. The “it is” rule works every time. It’s a simple way to remember when the apostrophe belongs and when it doesn’t.