<p>Steve: That is LITERALLY the funniest thing I have ever heard! </p>
<p>(Parks and Recreation fan?)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think I used the dredged misplaced apostrophe in a recent post in another thread. If I’d left it out, the letter would have read as a word I did not mean, so my finger hovered above the backspace button for a moment before I decided to just allow it to remain. I was too lazy to consult my copy of Garner’s Modern American Usage, thereby choosing to forgo the spanking my favorite grammarian would undoubtedly have administered.:p</p>
<p>I did not like to hear or see “Cool!”. However I get used to it. Suddenly I see a new form in the last few weeks: “Coolness!”. Is coolness cooler than cool?</p>
<p>Many it’s are Apple gifts via their moronic iPad spellchecker. Or was it Apple’s gifts. I digres’s.</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot something. The plural of ABC is ABCs. As that above post about Chicago Manual says. But the plural of A is … A’s. No possessive. No contraction for dropping thletic either. Plain plural of ONE capital letter.</p>
<p>One of these days I will learn to adequately proof-read my own posts before tapping, reply. I meant: I think I used the dreaded misplaced apostrophe… Oh well, it’s a good thing I’m not alone here in this virtual village called College Confidential, as I often note with pleasure and relief that others make the same mistake all the time.:p</p>
<p>The one that drives me crazy is the “advice” vs “advise” from many here on cc.</p>
<p>The ones that bug me are “alot” and “apart.” As in:</p>
<p>I would like it alot if I could be apart of this program.</p>
<p>I unfriended someone on facebook partly because she felt compelled to correct typos in other people’s status updates. There’s a time and a place for proper editing. I assume many people are, like me, composing posts on the fly, using an Ipad or phone. My typing on virtual keypads almost always includes at least one mistake, due to fat finger syndrome, spell check syndrome, or “I have other things to do and this is good enough syndrome.”</p>
<p>
And this can be so easy if one remembers that he cannot be arrested for lying on the beach, but can be arrested for laying on the beach, ;)</p>
<p>It irks me when someone writes “payed” instead of paid. I have seen this in the HS student posts on many occasions.</p>
<p>G#–ah, but when your teenage D said she was going to get a tan, did she say she was going to lie out or lay out? Special use of the word lay for bodies laying out in the sun. ;)</p>
<p>And it’s difficult to lie about it if you’re beet red from an afternoon of overexposure…</p>
<p>RE: Apostrophes and the Oakland As</p>
<p>As a former journalist, many of my writing and spelling habits derived from the Associated Press Style book.</p>
<p>One example is: no apostrophe when referring to a span of years or a decade.
So, 1960s, not 1960s.</p>
<p>I dont recall what is said about a plural of a single letter.
But, personally, I have no problem was Oakland As.
Mainly because As without the apostrophe is also an actual word and could be confusing.</p>
<p>And, the funny thing is, until 1954 the team never spelled out the word Athletics on either its home or road uniforms.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s also difficult to lie about if you’re beet red from an afternoon of overexposure…</p>
<p>
But it’s probably not difficult to be beat red if you lie about an afternoon on the beach.</p>
<p>It seems to me that A’s is a perfectly good contraction. After all the full name is the Oakland Athletics (not the Oakland Athletic). So the apostrophe is signifying the missing “thletic.” </p>
<p>Of course if this is the correct usage then would you write A’s’ to form the possesive? "The Oakland A’s’ starting pitcher was bounced in the 3rd inning after giving up 8 runs.</p>
<p>
That’s a mashup of my two kids: S, the language police, and D, the internet culture critic. 
The TV-to-people ratio in my house makes it difficult for me to get too much TV time, so no, even though I wouldn’t mind an excuse to watch Amy Poehler, I can’t blame Parks and Recreation for my sense of humor.</p>
<p>To those who don’t like reading long threads before posting: “thletic” was a lame joke. I even apologized (with an “embarrassed” smilie, no less) in the very same post. I really should take the kids’ advice: “Dad, if you have to explain it …” :o</p>
<p>My understanding is that the IVY League came about when there were four schools competing in it.</p>
<p>Four schools. Roman numerals: IV, eye-vee. </p>
<p>Maybe that’s an urban legend, but it would imply that both IVY and Ivy would be correct.</p>
<p>No, there were originally three.</p>
<p>IV is what the parents need when they get the first COA bill.</p>