Help! How to shorten professionals to pros/pro's

[nomedoit]

I assume you would say pro's?

I'm in the US and people often use this shortened word.

So, for example, the sentence might be, "Attend our golf workshop and learn the secrets of the pro's."

Is it pro's?
Or Pro's?

And if it does have an apostrophe, why?

like 'do not' shortened to don't, the apostrophe replaces the bit you miss out ('fessional')

can't help you with the caps, but suspect as it is the formal title of the position 'he is the Pro here', like 'he is the Director General here' that it would be capitalised. but not really hung out in the hallowed halls of golf much, so a mere guess...

if as in the example you used, you are not referring to the specific Pro that works the golf course, but any random pro golfer, suspect it would not be capitalised. but might be wrong.

and, now i have not helped you in the slightest, but merely confuzzled your pondering further, i'll be orf.

It doesn't have an apostrophe. It would only have an apostrophe in the context of something belonging to the pro; "the pro's clubs" etc.

IMHO you'd be better off saying "Attend our golf workshop and learn the secrets of the professionals." Then you would avoid having to write "pros", which I admit looks odd, or "pro's" which is wrong, though common.

Can we have a vote on the apostrophe?

Yes, I could say professional. But pro's/pros is very common in the USA, especially with reference to sports.

The initial question is really about how you should spell 'pro' in the singular. Apostrophes are used in contractions, e.g. "don't", and in abbreviations where the start of the word is removed, e.g. "'phone", but the form for an abbreviation formed by lopping off the end of a word is to use a full stop. Hence, for example, the correct short form of 'Professor' is 'Prof.'. If you would write 'Speak to the pro., who will help you', then it would be correct to pluralise it as 'pro.s', although this is highly unusual and it is, in my (extremely pedantic) view, entirely acceptable to write "pros" even if you would insist on "pro." in the singular. There is no case for "pro's", because "pro'" is not the correct way to write the abbreviated singular. Personally I would argue that "pro" with no full point is now in use and that to add the point is to make a very conspicuous act of sticklerishness. If you want back up for this view, "pro" is in the OED as a legitimate spelling for sports professionals, even though the etymology is of course from "professional".

If you're worried about being challenged and can't be bothered to rehearse all this I would chime with prism's suggestion that you dodge the issue and write 'professionals' .

Heartsease thank you! You really explained it clearly.

so my business name is Wesley Chapel Roofing Pro's. Should it be Pro's or Pros? You can check out my website here: www.roofingwesleychapel.com Please let me know as this is driving me crazy. LOL Thanks in advance!

@JBalogey - that apostrophe is wrong, like companies that call themselves "Wesley Plumber's" when it should be "Plumbers". Google "roofing pros" and you will see plenty of examples of companies who get it right, eg ueni.com/en-us/b/ajroofingpros

"Pro's" is a possessive, as in "I wanted a pro's opinion".

English is an evolving language and where letters are missed in a word the apostrophe now tends to disappear. Photo's would now seem pedantic ["photographs"] and 'flu ["influenza"]

I think I need a calming glass of something