Grammar Police v Wedding Party *MNHQ tweaked title at OP's request*

[WillLiveLifeAgain]

I'm usually OK with grammar but this one has me scratching my head. Probably lack of sleep (not over this).

Went to a wedding at the weekend. They had one of those neon signs with their surname but added an apostrophe. So it said

The Smith's (name changed)

Shouldn't it have said The Smiths? There were four of them including children. Not one belonging to something/someone.

I'm very happy to be proved wrong. I'm not a grammar nazi but would hope something like that would have been right?

I know this is AIBU so disclaimer obviously what matters is the happy marriage of two loving people not an apostrophe.

Are people not taught this when 12 years or younger?

I'm still recovering from the very recent revelation (after wondering and then googling while on holiday) that Australian place names (or at least the ones in NSW) don't contain possessive apostrophes - they legislated for it in the 1960s.

Can't believe I didn't notice when I lived in Australia for several years.

Apostrophes and place names - Apostrophes, Etc.

apparently there's something similar in the US
United States Board on Geographic Names - Wikipedia

Your not wrong for being really annoyed at that!

Someone who only speaks English tried to correct me on a similar thing in French (I am bilingual). Note that this person doesn't actually speak French, but was attending a wedding in France and somehow convinced themselves (but not me!) that English grammar rules should apply in French. So, in French, the rule is that you write 'les' (plural 'the') and keep the name in the singular: Les Smith. This person was incandescent that it wasn't Les Smiths.

There’s a Mitchell and Webb episode, still I think on YouTube, entitled ‘The Grammar Nazi’.
Very funny, and in that case, the ‘Nazi’ tag does seem appropriate!

Yes, they are.

It's bloody depressing.

When did this weird apostrophe/plural error start? It never used to be a thing. The English language is v easy in that most words add an s to form the plural. Did someone get confused with the possessive eg someone's and think when a word ends with an s it needs an apostrophe and it just spread?

I'm quite elderly now and used to often come across unbelievable grammatical errors, including misuse of apostrophes, as a child. Yes we were taught grammar, the quality of teaching varied from school to school, but some people are just not good at it. I still see it often, it is irritating but not a major irritation in the scheme of things.

In the case cited by the OP, someone else was involved in printing that and should have known better. Had I been the client I would have complained, preferred to have gone without.

No I’m not - are you?

Still do- I was doing subordinating conjunctions and expanded noun phrases with eight year olds today.
Not really sure what they gained from it though.

“NO REGERTS”

Yes, this isn’t anything especially new. What has changed is the much higher visibility of poor literacy. I have extended family in their sixties and seventies who literally can’t punctuate a sentence. Until relatively recently the only writing I saw from them was birthday and Christmas cards. Now I see their text messages, emails, and social media comments and I have an insight that I wouldn’t have had twenty years ago.

Some years ago a friend was a receptionist in a tattoo shop. Customer was late for her appointment and was rude and unapologetic to both receptionist and tattoo artist. She wanted some script as a tattoo. Tattoo artist asked her to write down exactly what she wanted tattooed.

She wote it down. What she wanted was 'Don't let your dreams die'. She wrote 'Don't let you're dreams die'.

Receptionist asked her if she was sure this was exactly as she wanted it. Reply was yes, do you think I'm stupid? OK, she showed her to the artist's station. Artist asked if she was happy with what she'd written, she rolled her eyes and said that she was. Checked again before he started, still yes.

I often wonder how long it took for someone to point out the error.

Note - staff in this tattoo shop were lovely, and did occasionally have to tweak spelling for customers, but that customer was obnoxious so...

Well shouldn't whoever is commissioning the piece just know? And what if one day the printer isn't checking/doesn't notice. Are they then liable for an incorrect print job?

Edit because I obviously made a typo on such a thread and my initial fix made it worse 🙃

Yanbu. I get so annoyed by erroneous apostrophes. Come on, how hard is it to understand that plural = no apostrophe needed. Possessive = use an apostrophe.

Especially astounding when something is in print (or a neon sign!)

I once worked for a large organisation who produced a glossy business plan which they circulated far and wide. It was entitled "<Organisation> and it's Customers". I was so embarrassed to find myself working for an organisation whose CEO and entire Board had failed to pick up on that.

I didn't raise it. They'd have probably told me it was me who was wrong.

In a town near me, a Barber has a large sign outside his shop with Cushty Cut's on it.

Agree but at least that one makes more sense in terms of following the possessive rule, so I’m more willing to forgive it.

People think that because "its" = belonging to it, it needs an apostrophe. But don't worry about "his" which is a possessive ending in an s.

I have noticed a couple of rules emerging "If a noun ends in a y or a vowel, the plural needs an apostrophe, eg potato's"; and "Plurals of abbreviations need an apostrophe" so "Three GP's were asked..." I try to remind myself that English is changing, and that written English follows spoken English usage, (I've accepted it's now "different to" not "different from" and "three times greater" not "three times as much") but there are limits!

They can always get 'it' added when they realise.

Can I ask a question. My surname is Atkins. So if describing my family as a whole, would it be ‘The Atkins’s’? I’ve always wondered this. Sorry I’m too dumb to know, I was barely educated and grew up in poverty.

I’ve only read your posts OP but this thread is classic MN 😂😂
People being offended all over the shop. Fucking hell.

My personal pet peeve is ‘photo’s’