(I guess today is my day for writing bossy letters.)
If you have more than one CD you have CDs.
If you have a CD and that CD is Hey, I’m A Musician Not A Grammar Police then you would say “My CD’s title is ”Hey, I’m A Musician Not a Grammar Police”.
I have read no fewer than 9 blog entries today talking about plural “CD’s”
Just Another Pretty Farce 
Thank you for this. My eyes bleed from all the misused apostrophes I see.
Oh Amen.
For several years I edited the Entertainment section of a large web site, and the Editor-in-Chief of the site wouldn’t let me use quotes or italics. No quotes for song titles, no italics for album titles or book titles.
[shudder]
Thank you for listening.
I had an instructor at IPFW pluralize with apostrophies. I wanted to march into his office and demand an A right then.
Got one anyway.
We would also accept compact discs if the extra typing doesn’t bother you.
I was taught that if I were to talk about doing something with someone else I was to think about how I’d say it as though I were doing it myself, only putting the other person first. For instance, if I went to the fair with you, I’d say “Kat and I went to the fair”, not “Kat and me went to the fair”, because if I was going to the fair by myself I wouldn’t say “Me went to the fair”.
The same concept is applied to using apostrophes. If I were to write the plural of compact disc I wouldn’t say “compact disc’s” and therefore wouldn’t put an apostrophe in the abbreviation, either.
I read a hundred resumes a day, most of which are written by people who use apostrophes to make something plural and still expect to be taken seriously. I die a little each time I see it.
Next on Maury: Your vs. You’re.
This comes up a LOT in my line of work. There a acronyms for everything, and many times, one needs to speak of them in the plural.
Took me years to get it right.
Did you know there are whole blogs dedicated to the misuse of apostrophes? I can only look at them periodically. 🙂
Is it too judgmental that, when I see business signs with incorrect apostrophes or quotation marks, I don’t want to do business with them because I believe they just don’t care about getting things right?
Rachel, I’m the same way, but probably to a lesser extent. It’s a strike against the business, but if they do what they do very well, it’s easy to forgive and forget. But it does color my view, initially.
Thank you for writing this.
Jag, thanks for the attack on your vs. you’re. Sign me up as a guest for that show, please.
“But it does color my view, initially.”
Don’t you mean “it does COLOUR my view”?
(ducking)
Jason, I seriously thought about spelling it that way, in honor of Kat, and my good Canadian friend. I usually use “s” instead of “z” in many cases for that reason.
I wish we could all go back to speaking Old English…It’s a much easier language and it makes a lot more sense….
No ‘s to worry about and no acronyms…
Why did the French have to screw up our language??
(This post was designed to be a little facetious and funny.) 😆
Katherine, your so right, I have to complement you! Principals of correct punctuation and word choice are so illusive. Its terrible! You’re post will insure they’re misuse is not excepted!!!
Ah, Kat, you would have loved the Advanced Grammar seminar I had recently.
Patrick, heeheeHEE!!!
Anyone suffering from the same malady evidenced in your lovely comment, ought to apply a liberal dose of The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition and repeat as needed. ;o)
OK, what’s up with the netizens not using the comma when addressing people??? For example…
The sentences
Welcome Kat and Tim to the Joshua Class.
and
Welcome, Kat and Tim (or Tim and Kat), to the Joshua Class.
do have two different meanings.
As Strong Bad would say…. [shudder] [shudder]
[faints after reading Patrick’s post]