What is it about Christmas cards that turns otherwise intelligent folks into blithering idiots – or at least make them forget their elementary school plural rules. Today, the last straw for Miss Muse arrived in the mailbox – a Christmas card from someone I know to be a college graduate with a very good job. The name is changed to protect the incorrect, but here’s the gist:
Merry Christmas from the Smith’s.
The Smith’s what? That apostrophe indicates possession, NOT plural. What ever happened to the Smiths? Why does it seem that almost EVERYBODY is using the apostrophe incorrectly and unnecessarily? I used to see this with names that end in “s,” but it seems to be everywhere, now.
I have one of those “s” names – Lewis. For years, to avoid the cumbersome and unattractive “Lewises,” I used the phrase “the Lewis Family.” In the last few years, though, emboldened by the bruising of pluralizing surnames, I have hit on a better way for my “s” last name. I’ve gone old school – Latin. You know, alumnus-alumni, so
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Lewi!
LOVE THIS!!
WE SHOULD READ THE NEWSPAPERS AND WATCH THE TELEVISION NEWS TOGETHER. WE MIGHT BEGIN A CONFLAGRATION.
THESE ARE PERSONS WHOSE LIVLIHOOD DEALS WITH THE USE OF WORDS. INCREDIBLE!
LOVE FROM THE ETTELS
XO XO XO XO
We always said Happy Holidays from the Margoli. Great minds think alike! On the other hand, I have a friend named Chris Lewi. That could get confusing. If he wanted to “pluralize” his name, would it be Lewis?
Katie et al.
Poor grammar is no sign of being a blithering idiot, but it does provide fuel for my students to mock me. Merry Christmas from the Stratz and the Almon.