How many uk.d-i-y members does it take to change a lightbulb?

[ARW]

1 to tell you that technical term is lamp not light bulb:-)

But thanks for that

[Vir Campestris]

Two actually. He said that already :P

I hope you all have a better Christmas than me. Between the MiL's death and funeral :(

Andy

[Tim Watts]

• 2 people to sidetrack on climate related matters

• 100 people pointing out what a bunch of onanists the +2 above are,

[Moron Watch]

And another to post, that that's total rubbish.

Acronyms such as URL are pronounced using their component letters as individual sounds thus YOU ARE ELL. Not as EARL.

While the plural of URL pronounced Earl would indeed be URLs the plural of URL pronounced YOU ARE ELL is URL's.

The exact same applies to things such as MBE's, CBE's, and OBE's

HTH

[Tim Streater]

Tsk, tsk. No it doesn't.

But continue to speak moron if it makes you happy.

[TimW]

That's a grammar rule I have never heard of! It doesn't sound right to me either. Did you make it up or do you have a ref to a better authority than yourself?

Tim W

[dennis]

The plural of URL is URL. Its an acronym and they don't actually have plurals. Most people would put URLs. Only grocers differ.

[Tim Streater]

As I said, he speaking Moron, hasn't progressed to Stupid yet. Has to make it up as he goes along.

[Graham.]

Crossposted to APIHNA for a definitive answer.

[Clive George]

A frequently argued question, but the majority view is that you're wrong.

eg

[RJH]

Agreed, on the apostrophe at least.

[Chris J Dixon]

Or sometimes a luminary. ;-)

Chris

[Moron Watch]

Your lack of knowledge on this or any other topic, is fortunately none of my concern. Neither it seems, is it any of any great concern to you either.

So that however old you are, no matter how many years you've already been gracing the planet with your presence, you're still not aware of the function of the apostrophe in replacing missing letters ?

Did they not teach you that in Primary School ?

Just try Googling "apostrophe" and "missing letters" and a whole new world is about to open up to both yourself and Tim Streater. Who it appears didn't even realise URL is actually pronounced You Are Ell. URL's is spelt URL's because its an acronym (loosely speaking) of the phrase "Universal Resource Locators". The role of the apostrophe in this case is to replace "ocators" which if fully spelled out, would follow the final "L".

Have neither yourself nor Tim Streater never wondered why the plural of "OBE" is spelled "OBE's" ? Silly question, obviously not.

I can't speak of you, but "wonder" and "thinking" clearly don't figure very highly, in what goes on between Mr Streater's ears.

HTH

[Allan]

[Muddymike]

Big clip

Thanks Adam but that's already covered see 3rd above.

Mike

[Bob Eager]

That is true.

However, the use of an apostrophe in pluralising acronyms is much less clear.

Go back some years, and it was very common (read Burchfield's third edition of Fowler's 'Modern English Usage'). It is still in use and arguably is not suddenly wrong.

I personally don't use it, but I wouldn't condemn someone who did. I certainly wouldn't insult them.

[PeterL]

As a lurker I think you've summed up the way this newsgroup operates perfectly. However, I'm disappointed Tomlinson didn't get a mention by name :-)

[Terry Casey]

If that was true, URL would have to be written U'R'L' to show that "niversal" & "esource" were missing as well as "ocator(s)".

No abbreviation, including all the examples you have quoted

- WITHOUT intermediate apostrophes - have apostrophes, whether they are singular or plural.

If you were taught anything to the contrary I suggest you sue your teacher for malpractice.

Are you a grocer, by any chance, or just plain illiterate?

[Tim+]

Um no. Acronyms are abbreviations that are pronounced as a single word rather than as a string of letters. URL is never pronounced "earl" so that makes it an abbreviation.

Fashions in the use of apostrophes have changed. As long as they help to clarify rather than confuse, precisely how they are used in any particular situation relating to plurals seems to me to be of lesser importance.

Tim

[Tim Watts]

TLA