idiot's apostrophe

9.9

An incorrect apostrophe used to make a plural word, for example 'apple's' for apples

noun
/ˈɪdiəts əˈpɒstrəfi/

Offensive

: [OFENSIVO] término despectivo para el uso incorrecto del apóstrofo

The sign outside the café had an idiot's apostrophe in "cappuccino's."

Examples

She rolled her eyes at the idiot's apostrophe on the menu.
The sign had an idiot's apostrophe that made it look unprofessional.
Forum users debated whether the mistake was an idiot's apostrophe or just a typo.
Many people misuse the idiot's apostrophe in their writing.
She rolled her eyes at the idiot's apostrophe in the restaurant's menu, noting the lack of attention to detail.
The sign outside the café incorrectly used an idiot's apostrophe in the word "dessert's," confusing customers.
Many writers often fall for the idiot's apostrophe when they incorrectly add an apostrophe to make words plural.

Surface Forms

idiot's apostrophe singular

idiot's apostrophes plural

Morphology

idiot's + apostrophe

The compound is built from 'idiot's' (possessive of idiot) + 'apostrophe', so learners can infer an evaluative meaning — an apostrophe associated with an 'idiot', i.e. a bad or incorrect apostrophe. However, the conventional, specific sense (an apostrophe incorrectly used to form a plural) is editorial jargon and requires pragmatic/cultural knowledge beyond the literal parts, so a B1 learner would likely grasp the negative gist but not the precise error.

Etymology

The term idiot's apostrophe comes from the common mistake of adding an apostrophe before the 's' to make a 'plural', as on shop signs like 'apple's'. People began to call that wrong mark the idiot's apostrophe, so the term now means 'an incorrect use of the apostrophe to form a plural'.