I'm Back With Apostrophes

Ok, I've been out of the loop for a while. It's been a little rocky in our household the last few months, but now things are back on track and we are good to go!

I am now 12 weeks pregnant w/ baby #5 and finally over most of the morning sickness, nausea, vomitting, eating non-stop, roaming around in my jammies all day, and ice-inhaling stage. THANK GOD I can think clearly again. Well, sort of...

Ok - something has been bugging me for a while.... improper use of apostrophes. I am not, by any means, an expert on punctuation. I constantly misuse a comma and semi-colon. I distinctly remember learning how to use them correctly, and I also remember not commiting that knowledge to memory. Okay, that said....I do know how to use an apostrophe, and from my observation most of this country does not.

Let me explain.... the following sentence has 2 apostrophes used INCORRECTLY:
"The Johnson's invited us over for dinner along with 2 more guest's."

If we put an apostrophe in "Johnson" then that means we are talking about something that belongs to them, but if we are talking about more than one person (plural) then no apostrophe is needed. The word GUESTS just happens to end in the letter S. That doesn't mean it needs an apostrophe it just means it ends in the letter S!

Somehow in the last few years we have all forgotten the correct usage of an apostrophe because now we just add it if the word ends in an S. No, this is not the end of the world. Yes, there are greater needs to discuss. BUT THIS DRIVES ME CRAZY. It's become an epidemic. It's everywhere...billboards, commercials, letters, websites, magazines, etc. Is there an apostrophe advocate somewhere trying to make sure this little punctuation mark pops up where it's never needed?

Just the other day I was at church and there was a poster hanging on the door which said, "LADIE'S MEETING" Ugh. So, if you omitted the apostrophe and the S the word would read LADIE? No. It would have been fine for the poster to say, "LADIES MEETING" because we are talking about more than one lady, or if you MUST add the apostrophe onto a word that already ends in an S then it should be added at the END OF THE WORD if it's possessive. So, it could have said, "LADIES' MEETING" and been correct.

This bad habit also rears its ugly head during Christmas when every card is signed, "Merry Christmas from the Miller's" or "Happy Holidays from the Wilson's" NO, NO, NO! If it's more than one Miller who is wishing me a Merry Christmas then that makes the word PLURAL so it is spelled MILLERS.

Ok, enough - as if my regular ranting wasn't enough...my pregnant rants are even better! Just wait and see. But could you do me a favor, please? Before you send a letter, or print a poster, or sign a card THINK to yourself....am I talking about more that one? (If so, no apostrophe.) Or, am I talking about something that belongs to this person? (If so, apostrophe until your heart is content.)