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<P><FONT face=Arial>"Melissa's" is probably wrong if it is meant to be plural,
but I think what Darling Steve is referring to with "70's/70s" is what is
commonly known as a 'grey area' - I have seen both forms widely used and often
wondered which to use myself. BTW, what decade are we in now? I've some
people call it the 'noughties' (the 00s), but what comes after that? The
'teens'?</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>I was looking through some reduced CDs in Smith's
this arvo, and I came across some which were labelled as follows: "This CD has
lost it's case but it's price has been slashed". God, that kind of
*obviously* inappropriate use of the apostrophe by a reputable shop *really*
pisses me off!</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>L...h</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>- - - - - - - - - -</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>From: Steve Darlington
<sdarling@futureweb.com.au></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>>PS: Yes, that was probably an inappropriate use of the
apostrophe</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>>there. If</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>>anyone can correct me on this (go for it Steve! free
shot!!!...*grin*),</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>please</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>>do so. "Melissas" just looks like the surname of some
Greek person or</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>>something.</FONT></P>
<P> </P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>This is a knotty issue that I'm just not sure about myself.
I was taught</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>in primary school that for some more esoteric words, you use
apostrophes to</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>insert the plural. The origin I believe is that for numbers,
abbreviations</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>and such adding an s is wrong. 70 is not made plural by
adding s, seventy</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>becomes seventies, not seventys, so 70s doesn't exist. It
must be 70's,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>with the apostrophe indicating the missing "ie". Hence "That
70's Show". </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Thus it was hilarious to see some foolish TV critic spend an
entire column</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>ranting that the show used an apostrophe incorrectly because
they were</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>idiot americans and "why does the 70 own the show? haha I'm
so witty and</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>they're so stupid". Moron.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>But I've never actually found a hard and fast rule to
support my above</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>theory. The guideline is I guess "if in doubt, leave it out"
and that</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>serves well. 70's, yeah, OK. GUI's, hmm, maybe.
Melissa's....probably</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>not - it's just too likely to be possessive. But the other
golden rule of</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>writing is that you sacrifice any rule if obeying it makes
your writing</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>less clear. So if you think Melissa's is more clear (and is
unlikely to</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>cause confusion with the possessive), then go for it. If
anyone calls you</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>on it, cite Darlington, Personal Communication,
2000.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Cheers,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial>Steve</FONT></P>
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