An apostrophe to show a plural?

Question

The other day at work we had a captioning competition for a photo of a surprised cat.
I submitted “Why’s your tail so short?!”. As in, "Why is your tail so short?"
A superior sent me an email and CC'd my boss saying, "You used an apostrophe to show a plural!!!!"
I don't know what she means. "Why's" is a contraction of "Why is", correct? Or is there something I'm missing?

RandomGuy · Accepted Answer

You are right: the apostrophe is correct. That person obviously doesn’t know basic punctuation, or even what plural means.

Brandy Balls · Answer

Thanks Aspara. For a moment there I was really doubting myself. I've worked in publishing for four years now and would really kick myself if I didn't know correct apostrophe usage.
Can you believe this is what goes on in Educational Publishing in South Africa... Time for home schooling

-B

RandomGuy · Answer

Glad I could clear up your doubt! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Anonymous · Answer

Why's is a contraction of why and is, yes. No plurals involved there.

Funnily enough, you can actually use apostrophes to make certain nouns plural. Check out the blog I wrote on this:
http://dcdesignhouse.ca/grammar-apostrophe/

An apostrophe to show a plural?

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