Dictionary.com says it's ok to use an apostrophe to pluralize. But people here have said it's not right.

Please tell me dictionary.com is being un-truthfull.

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Batman created by Bob Kane

Specifically, dictionary.com says:

[quote]a·pos·tro·phe n.
The superscript sign ( ' ) used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of numbers, letters, and abbreviations.[/quote]So "I saw two cat's fighting in the alley" is still not okay, but according to this, "There's a stack of broken VCR's in the back room" or "I've got three jacks and a pair of 10's" would be okay.

Two of my primary functions at my job are writing and editing, so allow me to speak with all the authority I can muster when I say that I would never accept this usage unless absolutely necessary. That is, if I were pluralizing a lowercase letter 'a' -- e.g. "Please delete the five extra a's from the word 'banana' in the third paragraph" -- then the apostrophe would be useful to avoid confusion with the word "as". But I don't see any reason to use an apostrophe with acronyms, abbreviations, numbers, or decades; I think it looks bad and might confuse those less fluent in the language, and I correct that usage every time I see it.

So basically I'm saying that dictionary.com is wrong. Not completely wrong, but a little wrong.

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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!

Fucking pantywaist editor. If I was there I'd kick you right in the nad's.

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100 pounds of shit in a 25 pound sack.

And now for something completely different.

Its

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What others say about boorite!

I read about one other exception for when you use periods in the abbreviation--e.g. I.C.B.M.'s--but nobody uses periods in abbreviations these days anyway.

By the way, this brings up one of my pet peeves--people always put the apostrophe in the wrong place when referring to a decade. For instance, the 1970s should be referred to as the '70s, not the 70's.

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."

Thanks for clearing up this age old question.

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Batman created by Bob Kane