dan’s blog

the new grammar

January 9, 2007 on 3:46 am | In Uncategorized |

I think i’ve discovered a new english street grammar.

the new street rule is: you can use an apostrophe to pluralize *acronyms*. it is still not correct (nor widespread) to use it on normal words. i speculate that the reason for this new street rule is to help the reader disambiguate whether the acronym is actually being pluralized, or if the acronym has an S-word at the end of it. it’s clear if you write: “LEDs”, but not if you write “LEDS”, which is the common acronym for “Laser Entropic Destruction System”.

for example, i often write “LED’s” or “ICBM’s” or “SUV’s” to pluralize, but never “diode’s” or “missile’s” or “jackass’s”.

how prevalent is this new grammar?  once again, google instantly tells us that “LED’s” is used 10% of the time compared to “LEDs”, and “ICMB’s” is used 15% as often as “ICBMs”, and “SUV’s” is used 10% as often as “SUVs”. and many of those top hits are reputable edited publications.

so, be on the cutting edge of the new english grammer, yall’s.