'60s or 60's ?

Question

Hi,I speak French and I have sometimes some difficulties to select the right word in English.According Google, if I search for '60s I receive 3.29 millions answers against 1.9 millions for 60's.So I suspect '60s to be the correct form.I ask the question because usually all plurals are written XX's, but in this case there is a prefix 19..60.I can solve the question in writting 1960s of course what is correct I think.But what are the correct forms (the best) ?1. In the years 1960s2. In years 1960s3. In 1960s4. In the '60s5. In the 60's ?I 'd have a tendency to select forms 1 or 4.Who can answer ?Thanks in advanceThierry

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Hi, I speak French and I have sometimes some difficulties to select the right word in English. According Google, if ... 4. In the '60s 5. In the 60's ? I 'd have a tendency to select forms 1 or 4.[/nq]
Nos 1, 2 and 3 are not idiomatic; "in the 1960s" works, as does "in the 1960s".
No. 4 is fine the apostrophe indicates that "19" has been omitted.

Nno. 5 is often found, but creates a false possessive "60" does not own anything. (That said, a plural possessive can exist: "The 1960s' belief in building motorways...", and in that case the shortened form would include two apostophes one for the omission, and one for the possesesive: "The '60s' belief in building motorways...".)

Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 22 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]On 26 Sep 2004, Thierry wrote[/nq]
(snip)
[nq:2]I ask the question because usually all plurals are written XX's, but in this case there is a prefix 19..60.[/nq]
No, plurals should not be written with apostrophes. The so-called "greengrocer's apostrophe" is indeed often seen, but is universally considered erroneous in the standard written language.
[nq:2]I can solve the question in writting 1960s of course what is correct I think.[/nq]
Yes.
[nq:2]But what are the correct forms (the best) ? 1. ... 'd have a tendency to select forms 1 or 4.[/nq]
[nq:1]Nos 1, 2 and 3 are not idiomatic; "in the 1960s" works, as does "in the 1960s".[/nq]
I assume you didn't intend to write the same thing twice: what alternative did you have in mind? To make the reference to years explicit, one could say something like "in the decade of the 1960s", but I can't think of an idiomatic expression using both "years" and a pluralized decade-number.
[nq:1]No. 4 is fine the apostrophe indicates that "19" has been omitted.[/nq]
The same applies when spelling the decade-number: "in the nineteen-sixties" becoming "in the 'sixties" although the apostrophe standing for the century-number is often omitted.
[nq:1]Nno. 5 is often found, but creates a false possessive "60" does not own anything. (That said, a plural ... would include two apostophes one for the omission, and one for the possesesive: "The '60s' belief in building motorways...".)[/nq]
I'd avoid abbreviating this possessive, or perhaps recast in a form with "of", so as not to give the impression of putting "60s" in single quotes; although when typeset (unlike in plain text) the first mark would be an apostrophe rather than an opening quote, it would be easy for a reader to stumble over it.

Odysseus

Usenet · Answer

To be honest, I didn't notice I'd written the same thing twice: I was just correcting Nos. 1-3, and hadn't noticed that there's only one idiomatic way of writing all three.
(Note to self: proffread your sutff nxet time, dammit...)

~~snip~~
[nq:2]Nno. 5 is often found, but creates a false possessive ... one for the possesesive: "The '60s' belief in building motorways...".)[/nq]
[nq:1]I'd avoid abbreviating this possessive, or perhaps recast in a form with "of", so as not to give the impression ... would be an apostrophe rather than an opening quote, it would be easy for a reader to stumble over it.[/nq]
Oh, I'd agree entirely that "'60s'" is best avoided; I was just noting that in that (undesirable) form, the two apostrophes would be appropriate, and would be doing different jobs.

Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 22 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]On 26 Sep 2004, Thierry wrote[/nq]
[nq:1](snip) No, plurals should not be written with apostrophes. The so-called "greengrocer's apostrophe" is indeed often seen, but is universally considered erroneous in the standard written language.[/nq]
The greengrocer's apostrophe is incorrect, but the apostrophe in "He is in his 60's" and "I'm buying some CD's" are not examples of the greengrocer's apostrophe. These are standard uses of the apostrophe, as we have discussed many times in this group and in alt.usage.english .

The Minneapolis Public Library, by the way, has bins it labels "CD's and DVD's."

(Replying to Harvey Van Sickle)
There is no false possessive in No. 5. That curious argument is used often enough it but makes no sense.
(While one use of possessives is to indicate ownership, there are other uses for the possessive which do not involve ownership at all.)
[nq:1]I'd avoid abbreviating this possessive, or perhaps recast in a form with "of", so as not to give the impression ... would be an apostrophe rather than an opening quote, it would be easy for a reader to stumble over it.[/nq]
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2](snip) No, plurals should not be written with apostrophes. The ... but is universally considered erroneous in the standard written language.[/nq]
[nq:1]The greengrocer's apostrophe is incorrect, but the apostrophe in "He is in his 60's" and "I'm buying some CD's" are ... this group and in alt.usage.english . The Minneapolis Public Library, by the way, has bins it labels "CD's and DVD's."[/nq]
The rule in printed BrE now seems to be to avoid the apostrophe as a plural marker: MPs, CDs and DVDs, etc. This accords with the abandoning of stops for abbreviations (BBC, PhD, etc), and of almost all punctuation in addresses and in written-out dates (27 September 2004). An exception is made for isolated letters: "How many s's in Mississippi?" Since we have no Académie and few of us think of using rules or usage guides, practice varies a great deal, especially in private writing, but I think that the newish principles will eventually become general since they are seen in almost every business or governmental letter and publication, and are, I believe, taught in secretarial schools.
On the point at issue, I'd write "in the 1960s" or "in the '60s"; there seems some merit in distinguishing "the '60s" as an era and "the 60s" as a decade in one's life (though, as it happens, for my late father they would have been the same).
Alan Jones

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]... On the point at issue, I'd write "in the 1960s" or "in the '60s"; there seems some merit in ... as a decade in one's life (though, as it happens, for my late father they would have been the same).[/nq]
Thanks to all.
I will thus use "in the '60s" or "in the 1960s" and CDs

That looks fine.
Thierry

'60s or 60's ?

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