I have had it with people who have no freaking clue how to use an apostrophe. Everywhere I turn there are words in the plural, but they have apostrophes! Ack! For example, I was in the grocery store the other night, and there is a display of movies for sale by “Warner Bro’s.” And at a Walgreens, “t-shirt’s - $9.99” This kind of stuff is everywhere- how hard is it to double check what you are saying to be sure it isn’t a contraction???
When I was little (1st grade) I used to write on all my papers:
Name:Kristin’s
My dad told me if I didn’t stop using the apostrophe where it didn’t belong, the apostrophe police would come and get me. Yeah, I believed him…I was 7!!! But I stopped being stupid with the apostrophe. How I wish there really was an apostrophe police force.
Yeah, I know it**’**s petty…but geez. People are so unbelievably dumb.
This is something that also drives me absolutely nuts. Heaven knows, my spelling and grammar are less than stellar, but putting apostrophes in plural words is not one of my vices. I don’t think it’s that hard to remember!
Not only do you see apostrophes in the strangest places, more and more you don’t see them where they should be. I knew a woman who had a small business called Beths Beautiful Babes. When I asked her why she didn’t have the requisite apostrophe in her logo, she said she didn’t put it in because she didn’t like the way it looked.
Sometimes it takes a lot of strength not to shake these people. And don’t get me started about Pats Gifts.
Last year while working with a couple of total fuckwit consultants we later fired, we were reviewing a document they had written in which they had typed something to the effect of
I corrected this on the fly to the correct “Rick Jones’s…” They flipped. “You can’t have an apostrophe after an S!”
I patiently explained that in English, a plural noun ending with an S is made possessive in the manner they had written, but a singular noun ending with an S, such as my frigging NAME, is made possessive like any other singular noun. And since Jones would be pluralized to Joneses anyway, “Jones’” is not a word in any language, unless there’s an obscure noun “Jone.”
They wouldn’t believe me. What kills me is that IT’S MY GODDAMNED NAME. After all these years, amazingly enough, I think I’ve mastered how to spell my own name.
I get a grim laugh everytime I drive down the access road of I-35 getting home. I drive by the All Faith’s Funeral home. Yup, that’s how they spell it! I need to call the place and start harassing them; one, I need to call and ask to speak with Mr. All Faith and two, I wonder if they can do a siberian shaman funeral service for me!
I patiently explained that in English, a plural noun ending with an S is made possessive in the manner they had written, but a singular noun ending with an S, such as my frigging NAME, is made possessive like any other singular noun. And since Jones would be pluralized to Joneses anyway, “Jones’” is not a word in any language, unless there’s an obscure noun “Jone.”**
Next time someone hassles you about this, pull out a copy of Strunk & White’s; Elements of Style. They handle this in the first chapter. Great book!
I know. I was commenting on the poster to this board who continues to spell it ya’ll. Maybe I should have made that clearer. I try to use either spelling as little as humanly possible, so it doesn’t affect me much.
The standard abbreviation is bros., of course. But I’m not so sure that “Bro’s” isn’t in the spirit of the law, as it were. Apostrophes are definitely used to represent missing letters. So even while the standard abbreviation may be bros, I wouldn’t quibble too vociferously against “bro’s”. This is one of those ways the language evolves; it’s not explicitly wrong, to my mind.
(I simply cannot believe I’m agreeing with Danielinthewolvesden about a matter of grammar. Shoot me now.)
Mis’s’placed apos’trophes’ s’houldn’t be a problem any more if we jus’t s’tart requiring that apos’trophes’ be placed after every s’. I promis’e you will get us’ed to it in no time!
This kills me too. Around here, you get signs with the correct plural (if you’re lucky) but an apostrophe thrown in for good measure, e.g., “babie’s”, “partie’s”
Is it just me, or are our British and Irish friends unusually prone to this sort of thing? Why is this? Do they not teach punctuation in the schools over there, or has allowing the comma splice opened the floodgates to general anarchy?
One of the earliest threads I started was a rant about this identical subject. I did a search for that thread, but it looks like it has gone into cyberspace.
Freyr: You’re right, Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style” is terrific. I am looking at my copy right now, and just because I am so anal about this subject, I feel compelled to reproduce here an illustration of the rule in question:
Proper name ending in S: Sacks
Singlular possessive of Sacks: Sacks’s
Plural of Sacks: Sackses
Plural possessive of Sacks: Sackses’
Examples of usage:
pugluvr’s real name is Carol Sacks.
Carol Sacks’s screen name is pugluvr.
The Sackses are going to eat too much at Thanksgiving.
The Sackses’ pugs are also going to eat too much at Thanksgiving.
