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by toast0 1656 days ago
Style rules used to suggest an apostrophe for initialized items such as C.D.'s for sale. Of course, modern style rules suggest CDs for sale (but don't tell the New York Times).
1 comments

The Times’ style guide would render more than one compact disc as C.D.s (no apostrophe, but with periods in intialisms).

Do you have a link to any authoritative style guide that suggested “C.D.’s”? The Times' guide (2015) demands apostrophes to pluralize single letters: “the word has two t’s”. I think that’s silly, just as their use of quotation marks rather than italics for book titles.

Here is a quote from the 2015 edition of the Style Guide:

“G.I. The colloquial term, derived from government issue, for American soldiers. The plural is G.I.s”

The Chicago Manual of Style IIRC has this, also perhaps Strunk and White, and apparently the NY Times in 2010:

https://afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/faqs-on-s...

Hmm. Either the Time’s guide is inconsistent or they changed their rules between 2010 and 2015.

You’re correct about Chicago (you do RC); at least my 1969 copy.

My 1959 Strunk and White doesn’t seem to have anything about this, but it also doesn’t have an index, so maybe it’s in there somewhere.

I've probably gotten confused about the single letters and the C.D.s, thanks. (actually, looking at the other response's link, the Times may likely have changed their style guide)

But, then why an apostrophe for t's and not for fees? :D It rhymes, it should be punctuated the same is as good a rule as any!