(no subject)

[gnomi]

[Poll #1418136]

Comments

[byrne.livejournal.com]

I have read -- and can't cite, damn it -- that the apostrophe is used to denote plurals for numerals and single letters. I hate it, I think it looks wrong, but I believe it to be correct.

I'll see if I can find the source. It might have been Chicago.

Oh, and for Lennox I was assuming it to be a surname, which is always made a plural by the addition of an s alone.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I believe that Garner allows either with or without, as long as there won't be ambiguity in the sentence (As and Bs is more ambiguous -- because of "as" -- than, say, Ps and Qs would be). You may be right about Chicago, though. I didn't feel like digging mine out. :-)

I agree with you, though, and I lean strongly toward no apostrophe.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go for the plural of 72 as seventies-two. Otherwise, 72s

And the plural of Lennox is obviously Lennoxen.

Having worked ina bakery where we made banana bread and had the browning bananas for way too long, nothing could convince me that Banana Bread isn't yucky (and bananas are only good when there is still some green on the peel).

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I like "seventies-two."

And I can completely understand your aversion to banana bread.

[madknits.livejournal.com]

I would say [A]s and [B]s.
Using the apostrophe makes it a possesive.
Not using it makes it look like [as] with a capital letter.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I like the brackets, but I'm not sure they're standard usage.

I agree with you on the "as" problem.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

"A and Bs"

I could be wrong...

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

It's a style thing; there's rarely a "right" and "wrong" in this sort of case.

[moonpuppy61.livejournal.com]

1) As a general rule the first will be correct but only if A and B are properly plural with an 'S'.

2) The correct plural of 72 is "one gross" or 144. Math is fun!

3) Lennox is a Surname and as such does not automatically become plural with an additional 'S' but sometimes is a plural with the same spelling.

4) Those yellow fruits are only to be eaten under Doctor's orders.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I like your answer #2!

As for #3, how would you refer, then, to multiple members of the Lennox family whose first names you do not know?

[diannefox.livejournal.com]

Also, honey-butter goes really well with banana bread. :)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Oh, yum. I haven't made honey butter in a couple of months, but you're right; it would go very well.

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

Lennoxi is the proper plural of Lennox, of course.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

But of course!

[introverte.livejournal.com]

My first though was (A and B)s. Probably it's not a good idea to mix math and grammar.

Now I want banana bread.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, math and grammar don't always mix well.

I'm making banana bread this afternoon. :-)

[thespisgeoff.livejournal.com]

For As and Bs, it depends on if we're discussing the pure letter or a letter grade. "I like this font, except for the capital A's and B's, which are a bit overwrought" versus "Johnny brought home "A"s and "B"s from school." Probably only valid in the Geoffrey Bleeker Style Manual, but it's how I work it.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Your deliniation of one vs. the other makes sense to me.

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

I've seen self-styled official quizzes that decree "A's and Bs" is correct, because you shouldn't use apostrophes to pluralize ... except when the resulting word might be confusing. Which is not a coherent rule and I will fight it tirelessly. Bleargh. Apostrophes! do! not! make! plurals! (And the NYTimes can go to ... somewhere annoying ... for requiring apostrophes to pluralize abbreviations. TF, people, TF.)

For numbers, see previous rant. 72s.

Lennox -> Lennoxes just as box -> boxes.

And banana bread properly goes with nuts baked in, and maybe some butter or margarine, but anything else would just overwhelm the bread. (And milk is yucky. Yucky I say!)

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Why not Lennox -> Lennoxen as Ox -> Oxen?

[aunt-becca.livejournal.com]

Banana bread made into french toast is drool-worthy :) But who ever has leftovers?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I've never french-toast-ifed banana bread. Sounds delish.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

As and Bs vs. A's and B's makes me ask how you designate possessive of two people:

Jack's and Jill's or Jack and Jill's

And what is the possessive of an entity that has a possessive name already: McDonald's's?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I say Jack's and Jill's. The box belongs to Jack and Jill. It is Jack's and Jill's box.

I've seen "McDonald's'," but that makes me twitch. Almost all of the options make me twitch. I tend toward "belonging to McDonald's."

[tober.livejournal.com]

I experience cognitive dissonance from both using and not using the apostrophe when forming plurals of single letters, unpronounceable initialisms (pronounceable ones definitely don't get the apostrophe), and literal numbers (but numbers spelled out as words definitely don't get the apostrophe either - and in formal contexts I favor always spelling out numbers unless I'm writing about math, science, or engineering). If I must choose to endorse one or the other, though, the with apostrophe usage (in all cases, not just when it might be confusing as in "As") gets the nod. I can accept uses for the apostrophe that don't involve posession - I mean, people don't generally get uncomfortable over the use of the apostrophe to form contractions, do they?

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

the plural of lennox should be lennoces, no?

i use apostrophes for plurals a lot on lj only because i don't tend to capitalize, and otherwise it's confusing. but if i were to use capital letters like a normal person, the apostrophe would look wrong. plurals of numbers just look weird in general.

i got four words for ya

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

banana bread french toast.

'nuff said.

ETA: doh! your aunt becca said it first. well, fine. i agree. LOUDLY!

[perpet.livejournal.com]

I detest the possessive use in non-possessive form. A and B don't belong to anyone, and context should explain that they're not other words.

For Lennox, I would denote the number of things I had that were Lennox as opposed to making Lennox plural:

I have 3 Lennox printers.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Banana bread is irredeemably yucky but zucchini bread is good with butter and even better with cream cheese.

[violetcheetah.livejournal.com]

and it's almost zucchini season. OM NOM NOM.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

The very best way to eat banana bread: toasted, with cold cream cheese and room-temperature very-ripe strawberries, sliced.

[seborn.livejournal.com]

I like seventy-twos, because 72s looks too much like 72 seconds or some other unit abbreviated with s.

[abbasegal.livejournal.com]

Is it chocolate chip banana bread? That is my favorite!