[ot] Re: Hello -- question about the "Rules"

[Mike Jackson <mj...@barking-dog.net>]

> And what the hell are "DVD's", "CD's" and "PC's" as plural forms for
> DVD ,CD, and PC? Do they also drive "Car's"? or fly in "Airplane's"?

You'll notice the difference: the former are abbreviations, the latter are 
complete words. I guess it makes sense to people, though not to me.

Mike Jackson
Editor & Web Developer, DVD Verdict
www.dvdverdict.com

Re: [ot] Re: Hello -- question about the "Rules"

[Loren Wilton <lw...@earthlink.net>]

> Yes, I know, but it seems people *think* that an abbreviation requires an
> apostrophe between it and a pluralizing s, whereas a complete word (like
> "airplane" in your previous example) would not. They're wrong, of course,
> but that seems to be the "logic" behind it.

FWIW, once or twice I've deliberately misused an apostrophe when pluralizing
some abbreviation simply because the result if simply sticking an s onto the
end of the abbreviation was either so ugly or obscene or hard to decipher I
just couldn't let it stand, and a dash before the s didn't seem to serve
well.

However, I'm reasonably convinced that that is not the usual logic for using
apostrophes (apostrophe's? :-) in abbreviations.

        Loren

Re: [ot] Re: Hello -- question about the "Rules"

[Evan Platt <ev...@espphotography.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: "Mike Jackson" <mj...@barking-dog.net>
To: "Ronny Nussbaum" <ro...@gmail.com>
Cc: <us...@spamassassin.apache.org>
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2005 15:42:31 -0700
Subject: Re: [ot] Re: Hello -- question about the "Rules"

> Yes, I know, but it seems people *think* that an abbreviation requires
> an 
> apostrophe between it and a pluralizing s, whereas a complete word
> (like 
> "airplane" in your previous example) would not. They're wrong, of
> course, 
> but that seems to be the "logic" behind it. 

There was this seller on eBay who spammed his auction to a non-spam
newsgroup - "Wow, look at this LOL". 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6963988701 

Now of course everyone jumped on him for spamming his auction. He claimed
"i't wasnt me, I didnt spa'm that auction, I mere'ly came acro'ss it
searchin'g eBay." (You get the point). The odd thing was he spammed it
about an hour after it was listed on eBay. Same bad grammar as the seller,
same (ab)use of apostrophies, etc. Then his son and his granddaughter jump
in on the thread to back him up. Can you say major sock puppet?

The thread is a good read.

http://tinyurl.com/9uvyd

http://tinyurl.com/9gbjt

Evan

Re: [ot] Re: Hello -- question about the "Rules"

[Mike Jackson <mj...@barking-dog.net>]

> They don't use it while saying "The DVD's cover is beautiful". (Right)
> They use it like this: "I bought 20 DVD's". (Wrong)
>
> If I'm not mistaken, the first example above is not an abbreviation,
> but possessive form.

Yes, I know, but it seems people *think* that an abbreviation requires an 
apostrophe between it and a pluralizing s, whereas a complete word (like 
"airplane" in your previous example) would not. They're wrong, of course, 
but that seems to be the "logic" behind it. 

Re: [ot] Re: Hello -- question about the "Rules"

[Ronny Nussbaum <ro...@gmail.com>]

They don't use it while saying "The DVD's cover is beautiful". (Right)
They use it like this: "I bought 20 DVD's". (Wrong)

If I'm not mistaken, the first example above is not an abbreviation,
but possessive form.

:)

-RoNNY

On 7/1/05, Mike Jackson <mj...@barking-dog.net> wrote:
> > And what the hell are "DVD's", "CD's" and "PC's" as plural forms for
> > DVD ,CD, and PC? Do they also drive "Car's"? or fly in "Airplane's"?
> 
> You'll notice the difference: the former are abbreviations, the latter are
> complete words. I guess it makes sense to people, though not to me.
> 
> Mike Jackson
> Editor & Web Developer, DVD Verdict
> www.dvdverdict.com
> 
>