Germans decry influence of English as ‘idiot’s apostrophe’ gets official approval - eviltoast
Linguistic body has relaxed rules on use of apostrophe to show possession, not traditionally correct in German
  • BumpingFuglies@lemmy.zipEnglish
    9·
    2 months ago

    Interesting. In English, I’d say the “idiot’s apostrophe” is an apostrophe that’s used for a non-possessive, non-contraction ‘s’.

    E.g., “The Johnson’s are going to the mall to buy pizza’s.”

    • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
      22·
      2 months ago

      Doesn’t “idiot’s” in this example show possession?

      And the “Johnson’s” is a plural?

      Or do I misunderstand what you’re trying to say saying?

      • BumpingFuglies@lemmy.zipEnglish
        9·
        2 months ago

        In English, apostrophes are only used for possession and to indicate missing letters (usually vowels), as in contractions.

        My example showed apostrophes incorrectly being used for non-possessive plural nouns. I used a proper noun (“Johnson”) and a common one (“pizza”) to better illustrate my point.

        • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
          2·
          2 months ago

          Thanks.

          Wanted to make sure I was getting what you were puttin’ down.

          Yea, the rules are pretty clear, at least I always thought so.

          Kind of telling that so many people can’t be bothered to understand it.

          • BumpingFuglies@lemmy.zipEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            Nah, it’s pretty simple. Pronouns don’t use apostrophes for possession; they only use them for contractions like “it’s”.