Aaaaargh.
I can’t bear it any longer.
I have just read about three posts from well educated friends using apostrophes in plurals.
Please, please, please read back over what you’ve written and think about it: is the apostrophe in place of something? (don’t=do not, it’s=it is). Is it a possessive? (John’s sock; my girlfriend’s hair).
If not, DO NOT USE AN APOSTROPHE. I’ve started seeing people using it where the word ends in a vowel (photo’s) even though it’s just a plural and I kinda sorta understand the temptation because the rule for creating plurals with words that end in ‘o’ in English is that you add ‘e’ (tomato, tomatoes) so there’s this sense that it should be photo, photoes but we know that’s wrong but photos looks like it would be pronounced ‘photoss’ not ‘photoes’. I saw one the other day that said ‘chicken parma’s’. Of course, that’s another complex one because the apostrophe could be replacing the ‘giana’ that’s missing.
But for heaven’s sake, plurals like ‘editors’ do not need apostrophes in between the ‘r’ and the ‘s’ (example changed to protect the culprit in question; I come not to punish but to enlighten).
Yes, yes, I know, this belongs in cranky_editors, not here. But when it’s getting so bad that *I* occasionally catch *myself* typing the damned things in where they don’t belong, IT’S A NIGHTMARE THAT JUST HAS TO STOP. You are infecting me with the evil apostrophe virus and there is no known barrier cream that will keep me safe.