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Thomas Quine wrote:
>
> You are all right that the plural of an acronym should be "s" and not
> apostrophe "s". However there are exceptions to this rule.
> Where there is a possibility of confusion, you should add the apostrophe, as
> in MES's. Otherwise you might make a MESs.
This is common practice, and might become standard one day.
However, the few of us who are still literate inevitably misread
MES's as a possessive. Later in the sentence, we realize that we're
wrong, and then we have to reparse it - which is an annoyance.
It's true that linguistic evolution is inevitable. However, when a
change encourages misreading. I believe that it should be
discouraged as much as possible.
Unless, of course, we conclude that the literate are a dwindling
minority, and decide that they can be safely ignored. :-)
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Contributing Editor, Maximum Linux
604.421.7189 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
"The squire has a piece of paper that says he owns the land,
The bishop has a bible that says our souls are damned,
Mackenzie had a printing press, it's soaking in the bay,
And if Mackenzie comes again, there will be hell to pay."
-Dennis Lee, "Mackenzie"
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