This piqued my curiosity... I found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe Use in forming certain plurals
- An apostrophe is used by some writers to form a plural<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural>for abbreviations and symbols where adding just *s* rather than *'s* would leave things ambiguous or inelegant. While British English <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English> did formerly endorse the use of such apostrophes after numbers and dates, this usage has now largely been superseded. Some specific cases: - It is generally acceptable to use apostrophes to show plurals of single lower-case letters, such as *be sure to dot your i's and cross your t's*. Some style guides would prefer to use a change of font: *dot your* i*s and cross your* t*s.* Upper case letters need no apostrophe as there is no risk of misreading: *I got three As in my exams.* - For the plural of abbreviations, an apostrophe is widely regarded as incorrect, so *CDs* is preferable to *CD's*. - For groups of years, the apostrophe at the end cannot be regarded as necessary, since there is no possibility of misreading. For this reason, many authorities prefer *1960s* to *1960's* (although the latter is a common Americanism<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americanism> [1] <http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/doc/punctuation/node21.html>), and *90s* or *'90s* to *'90's*. - The apostrophe is sometimes used in forming the plural of numbers (for example, *1000's of years*); however, as with groups of years, it is unnecessary: there is no possibility of misreading. Most sources are against this usage. - Finally, a few sources [2]<http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/pizza>accept its use in an alternative spelling of the plurals of a very few short words, such as *do*, *ex*, *yes*, *no*, which become *do's*, * ex's*, etc. In each case, *dos*, *exes*, *yesses* and *noes*would be preferred by most authorities. Nevertheless, many writers are still inclined to use such an apostrophe when the word is thought to look awkward or unusual without one. On 11/17/06, Ellen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I thought you can't use apostrophes in URL's. --- In [email protected]<weingartenchatters%40yahoogroups.com>, "Daria Akers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hummmm how odd... I just got a context sensitive ad on google that says: > > Beyond the 4Cs<http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/iclk? sa=l&ai=BD2KuWNddRc- PGYfqnAPY663xAe6T2g3ytZ_2BcCNtwGAlyIQARgBIIaPgAIoCDAAOABQg-X- ovv_____AWDJ7p6N7KSAEJgB6pmzDqoBXEFjY291bnRBZ2UxMjB0b0luZmluaXR5K0NBVD JMYXVuY2grUmFkbGlua3NSaHNQYWdlQmVsb3crU3dpdGNoQm90dG9tQWRzQ29udHJvbCtU aWVyMCtWaWV3X0NWsgEJZ21haWwuY29tyAEB2gEwaHR0cDovL2dtYWlsLmNvbS9jNGUwYX dzaGpna2QybDI4cWtxejBmMWlpMW94dnNm&num=1&adurl=http://www.beyondthe4cs .com>- > www.beyondthe4cs.com - Learn essential diamond facts. Why is cut so > important? > > They don't use the apostrophe either. > > I am sure to more than 1/2 the people I will be wrong no matter what I > choose. >
-- /k
