I am an English teacher and my faculty were debating the use of apostrophes in numbers such as the 1980s. I am of the opinion that 80s is correct and 80's is incorrect, since it's a pluralisation and therefore does not require an aopstrophe (and also because Fowler says so).
However two of my colleagues jumped on me claiming that it's a "stylistic thing" and that 80's is perfectly correct as it's fine to use an apostrophe to separate numbers and letters. One cited her previous employment as a magazine subeditor and the other cited Lynn Truss who apparently thinks that 80's is OK (it's a while since I read Eats, Shoots and Leaves; I can't remember).
In my family, Fowler's word is law so my questions are these:
- Who was right, my colleagues or me?
- More importantly, in Pedants' Top Trumps, who scores higher; Truss or Fowler?
