The greengrocer's apostrophe

Pluralisation. Possession. Omission.



Tricky, isn't it? Well it seems to be for some. Having received an essay back a couple of months ago where I lost marks for the incorrect usage of the possessive apostrophe, I have taken it upon myself to get it hammered into my frontal lobe.



A couple of sites I read regularly have articles this week on the use and misuse of apostrophes.



Wikihow has a good piece on it and degrades us further by pointing us at an 'improve your writing skills' page, not nice but necessary, perhaps?



Lifehack has the usual reference to another article thing going on, but it did use the term greengrocer's apostrophe, which put me in mind of the greengrocer a few doors up from the bank where my first 'real' job was. He used to constantly refer to Cauli's on his handmade signage, bless him. It is almost as bad as the seemingly ubiquitous pannini's that can be seen on chalkboards up and down the country.



For the last time, it is two N's, not three, and panini is already plural. Don't believe me? Well zip over to Wikipedia and have a look at articles about the apostrophe and the panino.