quote:
Originally posted by Argus:
I took this from an old grammer guide I keep in my office, I think I picked it up back in University from my Freshman English seminar professor...
Apostrophes are sometimes used to make acronyms or other abbreviations plural.
"They took their SAT's," or "They took their SATs."
Apostrophes may be used when no apostrophe might be confusing.
"Two As" or "Two A's"
Apostrophes should never be used as quotation marks to set off words or phrases unless used for a quotation within a quotation.
Apostrophes should not be used before the s for decades.
1970s or the '70s is acceptable.
1970's or '70's is not acceptable.
I would hardly consider this authoritative, but at least it shows that you're not the only one who has noticed this phenomenon...
Ok, so it started off as a legitimate usage with acronym's. That makes sense....
So I wonder why it spread to the point where video's, book's and grammatical error's are all now commonplace?
I think it must have something to do with the Microsoft spelling checker, which doesn't pick up on the out of place apostrophe's at all, assuming they are possessive's.
Lots of people don't have a spelling checker in their head, and rely on the software. Hence the proliferation of this new usage.
Does that make sense?