Dorothy writes:
It seems like most of your posts are official signs, not handwritten ones, but I think this one’s extra special because the combination of a misused apostrophe and a badly placed period make it seem like Mad Libs!
Mad Libs: Please use the other ATM’s _________.
Follow Apostrophe Abuse
#1 by Alison on May 1, 2008 - 3:07 pm
It hurts my eyes, but apparently apostrophes can be validly used after acronyms. CD’s, ATM’s, etc. Yuck.
#2 by Chris on May 1, 2008 - 3:36 pm
That’s definitely one of those “iffy” areas; I’m on the side of “if you don’t *need* the apostrophe to clarify what you’re referring to, don’t add it” — so, CDs, ATMs, etc. However, if you only had a supply of uppercase letters with which to create a sign, CDS, ATMS, etc. I could see having to use one to make it more readable.
This one’s hand-written, though!
I still loved the Mad Libs aspect of this sign.
#3 by Kevin on May 16, 2008 - 6:48 pm
At least they didn’t write “ATM Machine”
#4 by Maharet on June 13, 2008 - 5:41 pm
oh wait!!! but that’s not fair. lmao we all do that when using abbreviations… it’s almost like that rule does not apply in that context anymore, at least not to acronyms. i’m not the greatest at grammar, in fact i downright suck at it, but using ‘s after an acronym is something i’ll never give up! you can’t take it away from me! NEVER I SAID! okay…sorry, too much monster.
love the site though.