[English Nazi] which is correct?

[zodie]

ok so i noticed that when a lot of people pluralize acronyms, they add an apostrophe on the end of the word before the s.

e.g.
there are a lot of RA's around right now
did you and the others turn in your SOW's today?
a lot of celebrities have multiple DUI's

i always thought that was wrong, and generally hate when people misuse apostrophes

am i right

 

[Sir Lucius]

You can put an apostrophe + 's' on an acronym to pluralize it, it's to avoid confusion and has become acceptable through heavy usage.

 

[zodie]

You can put an apostrophe + 's' on an acronym to pluralize it, it's to avoid confusion and has become acceptable through heavy usage.

can someone else confirm this

this makes me very sad if it's the case

it bugs me

maybe i should just get over it

 

[DDS]

I do it on purpose in order to stop the confusion because of the growing cases of acroymns with both caps and lower case letters

 

[Sir Lucius]

acronyms and apostrophes
When to use an apostrophe with acronyms


Here are two quick sources from a google search. You'll find conflicting answers, but the fact is enough people use 's on acronym plurals to make it correct.

 

[Stilgar]

You can put an apostrophe + 's' on an acronym to pluralize it, it's to avoid confusion and has become acceptable through heavy usage.

Like when I MA'ed him.
Ayep.

 

[Ratorasniki]

i would think that if it wasn't correct to use if the words were expanded, it wouldn't be correct in shorthand either.

 

[Vlasic]

it isn't correct and I refuse to do it.

 

[zodie]

i see i see

thanks tw buddies this has been bothering me at my job cuz my boss does it all of the time

 

[KryandArturo]

I don't do it, and if it turns out to be confusing, then I just won't use the acronym.

 

[Vanster]

You can put an apostrophe + 's' on an acronym to pluralize it, it's to avoid confusion and has become acceptable through heavy usage.

This is right I think, but we really need to get one of the "English Only!" people to confirm it. You know, the ones that are English experts. . .

 

[Sir Lucius]

Oh ya, if an acronym gets used a lot then it becomes an actual word, and you don't need to put the apostrophe on it anymore because there's nothing to confuse.

For example: "I borrowed my bff's dvds, and watching them induced many lols."

"We need to search for WMDs on our radars. Then fire missles from our ISS's."

 

[Lobster]

The only reason that using an apostrophe to pluralise an acronym has come into use is because newspapers often write headlines in caps and thus adopted apostrophes to show a pluralised acronym.

There is absolutely no reason that anyone who isn't writing something in block caps should use an apostrophe to pluralise an acronym.

So for almost all cases, don't use an apostrophe.

 

[Highfive]

MAed

 

[Sir Lucius]

How many As did you get on your report card? A means excellent btw.

 

[hyung]

its to avoid confusion duh

 

[Sir Lucius]

ya, just like how we avoid confusion of its possessive and it's contraction

 

[Thingfish]

it isn't correct and I refuse to do it.

^

 

[Vanster]

Things were much easier in day's of your.

 

[vempire]

ok so i noticed that when a lot of people pluralize acronyms, they add an apostrophe on the end of the word before the s.

e.g.
there are a lot of RA's around right now
did you and the others turn in your SOW's today?
a lot of celebrities have multiple DUI's

i always thought that was wrong, and generally hate when people misuse apostrophes

am i right

If you were a true English Nazi you would capitalize when necessary and use proper punctuation. Stop being a wannabe.

Am I right?