oooh TV's and VCR's, huh? yike's.

God damn it. Seriously, this is dumb!

Actually, isn't it common to use an apostrophe when pluaralizing acronyms? The reasoning is that it's neccessary to seperate the s from the letters that denote words in order to avoid confusion.

Nope, just looked it up. Seems that one only uses an apostrophe to denote a plural in the case of something like "p's and q's".

Don't they edit anymore at the NY Times? Don't they care about language? sheesh.

According to this source, use of apostrophes in plural acronyms is an unusual modern use, and many people object to it. I would think the NY Times would have gone the traditional route.

My britches are indeed on fire.

This reminds me of when I was 18. I took the AP English test -- did as good as you can do, much to my surprise. This 17-year-old whelp I worked with was studying for the same test.

I wrote a sign this way (I dunno what the abbreviation was, but "TV's" was the style I used). Man, he was aghast! 'How can you get a 5 on the AP English test and make this horrible mistake!'

It was funny. The apostrophe itself, in the possessive use, is actually descended from a mistake. Oh, the irony.

It's not a mistake (or, I mean, it's intentional). The NYT has the errant apostrophe in its style guide. I remember reading an article (in the NYT) about it once. Maybe it was a letter to the editor. Anyway, they know it's not standard usage, and they stand by it, but for the life of me i can't figure out wrong.

I mean, basically, it's just wrong.

That is the NYT style. I think it is dumb too.

For all intensive purposes it dont matter. Your over rot.

It was with resigned acknowledgement that Mr. Grouse's comments were confirmed. The wayward apostrophe placement has been New York Times policy for as long as any number of individuals can be bothered to remember. Scallywags.

ROFL's.

I prefer not to use it myself, but I don't think it's an egregious misuse.

arse_hat wins.