# Possessives are not plurals. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277 "2005-08-23T16:30:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/21 "2005-08-23T23:07:39Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > Just last night on the local news the sportscaster was promoting the new show featuring the college football coach. They put up a big graphic on the screen that said, “Bronco Mendenhall Show Start’s Sunday on KSL-TV.” > > This was obviously a slide that had been prepared ahead of time, and not just something slapped up on the screen at the last minute. You’d think somebody at the station would have caught that before it went on the air. You’d think that, but they don’t. An ad for a TV show on free-to-air over here. This is a proper ad campaign, that ran for a week before the show aired. The tagline was “They say that bad luck comes in three’s” and then continued on with “Well, their right” ---
**Author:** ![buns3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@buns3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buns3000)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/22 "2005-08-24T00:55:35Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I read the first draft of the script for the film we’re planning to make. Very difficult, since it contained apostrophes where it shouldn’t, lacked them where it did, ‘their/there/they’re’, ‘your/you’re’, ‘cemetary’ instead of ‘cemetery’, and numerous mis-spellings. It also lacked sufficient punctuation. There will _definately_ be a few people pleased to learn that inability to write is not a bar to a career in writing. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/23 "2005-08-24T01:20:48Z")
[![](http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif) ](http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif) In the words of someone more clever on this very board, an apostrophe does not equal _HERE COMES AN S!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/24 "2005-08-24T01:22:30Z")
Ahh yes…[Those Pesky Apostrophe’s](http://www.spinnwebe.com/tpa/). ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/25 "2005-08-24T02:01:30Z")
> [@Sensibility](#): > > seperate instead of separate? 🙂 > [@buns3000](#): > > There will definately be a few people pleased to learn that inability to write is not a bar to a career in writing. I’m a very good speller; one of the best in my office. I used to spell “separate,” “definitely,” and “desperate” correctly without a second thought, but I’ve seen them misspelled so many times on this board that now I have to look them up when I use them – just to be sure! It’s depressing. ☹ (And sometimes its deppresing.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/26 "2005-08-24T02:29:45Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > I’m a very good speller; one of the best in my office. I used to spell “separate,” “definitely,” and “desperate” correctly without a second thought, but I’ve seen them misspelled so many times on this board that now I have to look them up when I use them – just to be sure! Threads at SDMB have made me the question my spelling of ‘recommend’. (More than one person here has spelled it ‘reccomend’.) There’s a bar near the studio called **Cocoa** nut Grove. Naturally I call it ‘Chocolate Nut’. (NB. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove) lists two famous nightclubs with that misspelling.) ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/27 "2005-08-24T02:43:52Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > There’s a bar near the studio called **Cocoa** nut Grove. Naturally I call it ‘Chocolate Nut’. (NB. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove) lists two famous nightclubs with that misspelling.) Cocoanut is completely legitimate. I had to look it up, though, after seeing “cocoanut matting” in Sherlock Holmes stories. Even I spell things wrong ocassionally. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/28 "2005-08-24T02:54:50Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > There’s a bar near the studio called **Cocoa** nut Grove. Naturally I call it ‘Chocolate Nut’. If you went their, youd proably knead sum cash. Is they’re an **ATM machine** near buy? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/29 "2005-08-24T03:57:06Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#): > > Cocoanut is completely legitimate. I had to look it up, though, after seeing “cocoanut matting” in Sherlock Holmes stories. > > Even I spell things wrong ocassionally. [I looked it up on Cambridge](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?searchword=cocoanut&image.x=42&image.y=6), and it didn’t have an entry for ‘cocoanut’: > [@](#): > > Results > > **cocoanut** was not found in the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary > > Did you spell it correctly? Here are some alternatives: > [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > If you went their, youd proably knead sum cash. Is they’re an **ATM machine** near buy? I think they have an ATM machine, but I keep forgetting my PIN number. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/30 "2005-08-24T04:03:56Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > [I looked it up on Cambridge](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?searchword=cocoanut&image.x=42&image.y=6), and it didn’t have an entry for ‘cocoanut’: It wasn’t in my big red hardback Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, but [Merriam-Webster Online](http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=cocoanut&x=15&y=17) has it, though not a definition. (You have to pay for that, I guess.) I did find it on [www.dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com) and it’s listed as an alternative in the [Oxford English Dictionary online](http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50042944/50042944se15?query_type=word&queryword=cocoanut&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=2qBn-i2g5fg-871&hilite=50042944se15) as well. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/31 "2005-08-24T04:08:20Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#): > > it’s listed as an alternative in the [Oxford English Dictionary online](http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50042944/50042944se15?query_type=word&queryword=cocoanut&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=2qBn-i2g5fg-871&hilite=50042944se15)… :eek: I guess for $295/year you get more words. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/32 "2005-08-24T04:21:36Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > :eek: I guess for $295/year you get more words. Guess so. I was rather disappointed not to find it in Big Red, though. Of course I named my dictionary. Didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/33 "2005-08-24T06:27:23Z")
Ugh, I used to date a woman who got apostrophies wrong with absolute consistency, using them for plurals and not for posessives, except of course in the case of “it.” Just today I got an online ad from an Arizona portal with an ad for a local car dealership, they touted the prices on “Avalanche’s, Siverado’s and **Cobalts’s** ” Jesus that last one made my teeth grind. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/34 "2005-08-24T12:33:07Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > I used to spell…“definitely,”…correctly without a second thought,… I always have to break this word down when I spell it: Def fin nite ly Otherwise, I may as well be trying to spell hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/35 "2005-08-26T23:55:43Z")
I seen that! ---
**Author:** ![OrangeJumpsuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OrangeJumpsuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrangeJumpsuit)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/36 "2005-08-27T00:00:02Z")
Shaddap yer whinin’! ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/37 "2005-08-27T01:39:47Z")
I make a lot of spelling errors. Then again, every once in a while I notice errors in newspapers and magazines. On the message board, though, it doesn’t bother me. I just assume it’s a more informal type of medium. Usually I imagine people typing their ideas off the top of their head, without bothering to spell check. As long as it’s comprehensible, and just the random error, I don’t mind, really. I find leet more annoying—it’s either just laziness or a silly, pointless attempt to be different. Why does someone type “u,” and not “you”? It’s not that hard to produce the other two letters. Not that I haven’t done it a few times myself… ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/38 "2005-08-27T01:58:43Z")
I just got my copy of [_Snow_ by Tracy Lynn from Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0689855567/103-8084707-0628600?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance), and cringed when I saw that the print on the back in the Read These Neat Books Too section spelled ‘Daughter’ in _The Storyteller’s Daughter_ as ‘Daugter’. In all caps. Right next to the tiny picture of the cover with the correctly spelled title. :smack: The people who put the cover together should be smacked. As for ‘cocoanut’, mightn’t that be an archaic spelling? I could swear I’ve seen it in something like _The Swiss Family Robinson_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/39 "2005-08-27T02:04:36Z")
> [@lizardling](#): > > As for ‘cocoanut’, mightn’t that be an archaic spelling? I could swear I’ve seen it in something like _The Swiss Family Robinson_. I’ll concede that point. Besides, my ‘Coconut Pork Pie’ has ‘Cocoanut’ on the sweatband. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/40 "2005-08-27T02:48:56Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > If you went their, youd proably knead sum cash. Is they’re an **ATM machine** near buy? Don’t you mean “prolly”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277.md?page=3)