Like many writers, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is my Bible. While I try to religiously follow the gospel that is the EoS (e.g. Rule #2: use the Oxford comma, Rule #17: omit needless words, etc.), I have a very difficult time abiding by Rule #1: form the possessive singular of nouns by adding ‘s. While this rule in and of itself is not the problem, what I find annoying is the fact that Strunk and White add that we should “Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write, Charles’s friend” instead of Charles’ friend.
There are many other sinners and heathens that do not conform to this rule and drop the s after the apostrophe when the final consonant is an s. The New Yorker’s Mary Norris - aka the Comma Queen - wrote about this debate a few years back when the Associated Press Stylebook - the go-to guide for US journalists and publications - changed their stance that used to be in conformity with the EoS Rule #1. The APS declared their new stance via a controversial tweet in 2019: “For possessives of plural nouns ending in s, add only an apostrophe: the churches’ needs, the girls’ toys, the horses’ food, the ships’ wake, states’ rights, the VIPs’ entrance.”
Personally, the -s’s just feels clunky and ugly. Trying to pronounce this out loud feels almost as comical as pronouncing Worcestershire sauce. Nevertheless, I feel conflicted, because I am betraying my faith in the EOS. While this may feel trivial, once I start normalizing this singular deviation, I can no longer consider myself as a devout member of the Church of EoS. In the words of Clay Christensen, “it’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold them 98% of the time.” By choosing to ignore Rule #1, I’ve just climbed atop a giant slippery slope and pushed myself down.
The truth, probably, is that we all cater to whatever the publisher’s style guide tells us to do (e.g. “use UK spelling,” which is another source of dissonance for me), but these seemingly trivial compromises create a lot of stress whenever I have to edit my publications. I’m just wondering out loud whether I am alone in my unnecessary piety and self-induced stress. Maybe just blindly following whatever the style guides tell me to do is the path of least resistance, but I find the plurality of these deities and their artificially manufactured arbitrariness extremely frustrating, if not pharisaic. Well there we go. Further down the slippery slope. I've now violated EoS Reminder #14: avoid using fancy words.
* Pharisaic: a word to describe a religious person who is smug and judgmental, especially if their actions prove that they are much less holy than they pretend to be.