Apostrophe hell.

[marshmallowfinder]

I keep seeing the incorrect use of apostrophes in dates, for example 'the 90's.'

It should be '90s. The apostrophe indicates the missing characters. It does NOT have one before the letter s. The apostrophe is so misused...sob! Can we do anything?

You’re wrong about first part.

You’re right about the second.

My favourite ever misused apostrophe was on a sign at Washington services, about 20 years ago. The sign was asking people to select a certain number of breakfast items for a certain price:

Cho'ose 6 items for £5
Cho'ose 9 items for £7.50

Argh sorry for cross posting 😂

😆

A few years ago there were some roadworks nearby and the notice said 'Lorrie,s turning' or 'Lorry,s turning', I can't remember which, but it made me smile often. No nuisance apostrophes there.

The worst one I ever saw was someone's first name, spelt Jame's. 🤬😫

What I don't understand is, why, if people don't know when to use an apostrophe, do they bother at all. If they left them off every time, they'd be right more often than putting them wherever takes their fancy!

It drives me nuts, or probably nut's. 😡

Are you sure you don't mean nuts' ?

Aww heck. Maybe I meant n'uts?

There were definitely nu'ts in this ice-cream flavour I found many years ago.

😂😂😂

Samantha Faiers has a brand called Little Knightley's and uses the apostrophe as shown here, despite (I assume) the brand referencing her children of which there are more than one.

All the companies she works with have failed to correct her and it pains me every time I see it. A few people do comment on IG posts but the majority of her followers can't spell themselves so I imagine it doesn't even register.

There is a type of pedantic over-correction in speech that bugs me: when someone interprets a final "s" added to a Proper Noun as signifying plurality, when what was probably intended was a possessive "'s" with the object understood.

"I'm meeting them at Wetherspoon's (pub) later".

"It's Wetherspoon, not Wetherspoons. You are meeting them at Wetherspoon later".

If she's referring to the duvet of one of her children Little Knightley's would seem all right.

Lidl and Aldi and Asda and Waitrose I can remember but I have to check Morrisons and Sainsbury's and I haven't gone to check the bills, so they are possibly incorrect here !

@upinaballoon Well yes, but we assume that's not the case as all her children are featured using the products.

Wikipedia suggests that it has been branded as both Wetherspoon and Wetherspoons.

The more annoying use of apostrophes is in plurals.

For example, I've seen on here today , 'reply's'

Oh yes, definitely. It's everywhere, sadly. Very annoying.

OK. A friend of mind would have said that the mistake might be deliberate so that we pedants all sit up and take notice.

I never heard of her until I saw this thread. The mistake has worked, indirectly, but I can't remember HER name, only that she's married to Mr. Knightley.

I’ve just seen “Afternoon Tea’s”

A cafe near my friend advertises Panini's, salad box's and jacked potato's. This is on the sign outside the shop that's been made by a signwriter. The menus aren't misspelled and when my friend mentioned it to the owner she said she has left it up for the laughs.

I received an email this week from Blackpool Sandcastle yesterday. I was tempted to reply to highlight their error.

I like to think I'm good at apostrophes, but the one I always struggle with is Mother's Day.

Should it be:
Mother's Day - a day for mother
Mothers' Day - a day for all the mothers

The internet thinks it's the first one, so I tend to go with that, but it kind of feels like it should be the second one.

I saw a van the other day with sign writing declaring they cleaned patio's
🤢

To be honest they would probably just refer to “Spoons”. Or possibly ‘spoons