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This is one of the few things in life that can make me stop in a public place and swear. It's happening everywhere English is spoken in the world...but it's not gonna start happening here regularly, if I can help it. So attend me, cousins.
I spotted one of these in a message header today: Lee edited the message in question, because she knew it would drive me nuts if I had to look at it more than once. (Which I would have had to do. I'm in here at least a couple of times a day.) I speak of that plague of our civilization, the Rogue Apostrophe.
This means (broadly) any apostrophe appearing where it doesn't belong...but (specifically) the apostrophe stuck in front of the "S" in a plural word, where it has absolutely no need to be.
Here's the rule. If the word is a possessive singular, then it takes an apostrophe. (Say you're trying to talk about "the cat belonging to or possessed by Diane": then the right form is "Diane's cat.")
If the word is just a plural of a common noun, it does not take an apostrophe. So the right usage is "Diane's cats" and not "Diane's cat's".
I know this nasty habit can be seen popping up just about everyplace. (Dave Barry described it best: "these days, the apostrophe doesn't mean anything but 'Look out! An S is coming!'"). And it's going to spread further if we don't all do something. But if I have to look at it all the time while I'm reading you guys' messages, it's going to make me crazy. (Getting the "it's" and "its" difference right can wait awhile.) So, until further notice, Lee (by my request) is going to correct the problem wherever she sees it, without further comment. There are very, very few occasions for Lee to edit people's messages...so ninety-nine times out of a hundred, if you see "This message had been edited by Lee Enfield-Burke" on something, it'll be because you made the booboo.
Friends, change your habits (those of you who need to) and make me proud.
(See also the Bob The Angry Flower cartoon here for another take on the problem.)
-- DD
[This message was edited by Diane Duane on 06 September 2003 at 8:26.]
I spotted one of these in a message header today: Lee edited the message in question, because she knew it would drive me nuts if I had to look at it more than once. (Which I would have had to do. I'm in here at least a couple of times a day.) I speak of that plague of our civilization, the Rogue Apostrophe.
This means (broadly) any apostrophe appearing where it doesn't belong...but (specifically) the apostrophe stuck in front of the "S" in a plural word, where it has absolutely no need to be.
Here's the rule. If the word is a possessive singular, then it takes an apostrophe. (Say you're trying to talk about "the cat belonging to or possessed by Diane": then the right form is "Diane's cat.")
If the word is just a plural of a common noun, it does not take an apostrophe. So the right usage is "Diane's cats" and not "Diane's cat's".
I know this nasty habit can be seen popping up just about everyplace. (Dave Barry described it best: "these days, the apostrophe doesn't mean anything but 'Look out! An S is coming!'"). And it's going to spread further if we don't all do something. But if I have to look at it all the time while I'm reading you guys' messages, it's going to make me crazy. (Getting the "it's" and "its" difference right can wait awhile.) So, until further notice, Lee (by my request) is going to correct the problem wherever she sees it, without further comment. There are very, very few occasions for Lee to edit people's messages...so ninety-nine times out of a hundred, if you see "This message had been edited by Lee Enfield-Burke" on something, it'll be because you made the booboo.
Friends, change your habits (those of you who need to) and make me proud.
(See also the Bob The Angry Flower cartoon here for another take on the problem.)
-- DD
[This message was edited by Diane Duane on 06 September 2003 at 8:26.]
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