What you say is true. Yet, it is not technically incorrect to use the =

apostrophe in such manner.  Some grammarians consider it archaic and some d=
o =

not.  Similarly, the use of commas has been relaxed since the early 60s.


----- Original Message ----- =

From: "Jinx" <joecolquitt@clear.net.nz>
To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 10:36 PM
Subject: Re: use of apostrophe on initials (was: Re: [EE] How to destroy =

CDs&HDDs?)


> "The use of the apostrophe after initials (LP=92s, VIP=92s) is actually t=
he
> older style: it was traditionally taught as the only correct form until
> the past couple decades, when leaving the apostrophe out became
> an acceptable variant"

Of my collection of dictionaries, only the 1978 US Random House
says specifically that an apostrophe is used for plurals of acronyms.
The others (going back into the 1950s) may not have felt it worth
mentioning. Generally it's used (as in it's) to show the omission of
letters, eg o'clock or fo'c's'le. But you might think, in these lazy days,
the fewer characters the better, hence CDs not CD's. If you use
upper-case for the acronym, a lower-case 's' stands out well enough

As I said, I can live with 's, but C/D,s really is above and beyond
the call of duty for a grammar mangler. You'd love to ask whoever
made those signs, and the person who approved them, "Show me
ONE other person in the whole world who writes C/D,s. And
why didn't you write D/V/D,s ?"

> I enjoy watching these rules change over the years, so I keep
> the old ones

It is interesting seeing them change. Ignorance of the past though,
for example things that used to be general knowledge, is a little
disappointing. A couple of months ago a senior policy-maker for
the NZ education ministry said that "facts don't need to be taught
anymore. That's what the Internet is for". Eeeeuuuw

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