[geeks] Apostrophe usage [was: The Dog's Breakfast]

[John Francini]

At 16:06 -0700 5/6/07, Mike Murphy wrote:
>On Sun, 6 May 2007, Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:
>>On Sun, 6 May 2007, Mike Murphy wrote:
>
>>>  restore DVD's. Note the plural.
>
>>You mean, the possessive?
>
>Nope, I meant the plural.
>
>"There is no need for apostrophes indicating a plural on capitalized letters,
>numbers, and symbols (though keep in mind that some editors, teachers, and
>professors still prefer them)."
>http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html
>
>I was a professor before I retired. I still prefer them. ;-) (not intended to
>be argument by position of authority, but only to establish membership in the
>mentioned class of those who prefer) (and again, ;-) )


Pet peeve time.


I'm sorry you're in the class of "those who prefer".  I believe that 
this particular loophole is what has led to the epidemic of 
apostrophe violations seen in American writing these days. 
Therefore, I think the rules should be simplified.

Rule 1. If it is a possessive or a contraction, it gets an apostrophe-s.

Rule 1a. Possessive pronouns are *already* possessive. No apostrophe is needed.

Rule 2. If it is NOT possessive and NOT a contraction, it never gets 
an apostrophe.

Period. Stop.  End of discussion.  NO EXCEPTIONS.


Oh, but what about the example sentence on the Purdue web site:

	p's and q's = a phrase indicating politeness, possibly from "mind your
	pleases and thankyous"?

	Nita's mother constantly stressed minding one's p's and q's.

Bzzt.  Wrong.  Thanks for playing.

I'd propose this rule:  When showing possessives of single letters, 
force the letters to UPPERCASE before adding the "s":

	"Nita's mother constantly stressed minding one's Ps and Qs."

This eliminates even the *typographical* need for the apostrophe, and 
preserves the golden rule.

John
-- 
John Francini, francini at mac.com

"The journey is more important than the destination -- that's part of life.
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