Now that I am a Hughes, there’s a whole new dimension to my lifelong plural v. possessive apostrophe fight. It’s bad enough to see a sign that says DVD’s for sale instead of DVDs, but if we start talking about a hat that belongs to someone named James, it’s like people hit a panic button and just start throwing things through the front window of shops in their brains. Why are people so pants-wettingly terrified of singular words that end in s? You can say James’ hat, or you can say James’s hat, but you have to add ’s to the singular form of the word to make it possessive, even if the word ends in s.

Also, if you don’t understand how to pluralize your own last name, you should not be allowed to put out a family Christmas letter and sign it Love, The Hughes. Or worse, The Hughes’. Or worst of all, The Hughes’s. AAAUGH WHAT IS THAT? We are the Hugheses. If we owned a store, it would be the Hugheses’ store. I realize it sounds a bit Gollum-y but that’s how it goes.

Okay, sorry, as you were.