Some guy claiming to be Rick McCharles is making fun of Microsoft on his blog.
Stepping on my turf, don’t you think?
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If you happen to see this Rick, HELLO.
Rick McCharles 
Well, I don’t think you need to worry, Real Rick. THIS guy can’t spell (for example, Rick McCharles’ Communications … instead of Rick McCharles’s Communications …)
Hey Rick,
I believe, I am the original; we would have to check birthdays 🙂
Hi Brian,
Thanks for your helpful and friendly comment. It’s possible that I could have made a typo, you know that happens sometimes. However, in this case, my use of the possessive punctuation is intentional. There are many ambiguities and exceptions in the English language; should I have capitalized that word?
In general, I believe the rule is to form the possessive singular of nouns with ‘s. However, there are exceptions. Here are a few references:
– If pronunciation would be awkward with the added -‘s, some writers use only the apostrophe. Either use is acceptable. (Diana Hacker, A Writer’s Reference)
– Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in -es and -is [such as Achilles’ and Isis’], the possessive Jesus’, and such forms as for conscience’ sake, for righteousness’ sake. (Strunk and White, The Elements of Style)
– With some singular nouns that end in -s, pronouncing the possessive ending as a separate syllable can sound awkward; in such cases, it is acceptable to use just an apostrophe. (Kirszner & Mandell, The Brief Holt Handbook)
– Since writers vary in the use of the apostrophe, it is not possible to make a hard and fast rule about the apostrophe in singular words ending in s.… Punctuate according to pronunciation. (John E. Warriner, English Grammar and Composition)
Welcome to RickMcCharles.com, Rick.
(I would be happy to sell you the domain for many thousands of dollars more than you are willing to pay.)
I suspect we must be related. My Father is Eric, originally from Timmins. His forefathers had immigrated from Ireland to the the Maritimes.
Hi Rick,
I am afraid we are off to a bad start. Please accept my apologies for slagging your spelling. Believing erroneously that you were not tuned into this blog, I thought a quick joke about YOUR bad spelling would make people smile (as the Rick of RickMcCharles.com is a notorious and unrepentant bad speller) without causing any grief. So you see, I wasn’t trying to have fun at your expense. (Had I been, I’d have called it a grammatical, not a spelling, error. But that’s not funny, because Rick’s grammar is fine.) Nevertheless, I was wrong there certainly for one reason, and probably for another. The first is that you WERE paying attention and my little joke ended up as a barb instead. For that, I apologize to you. The second is that I doubt anybody else even noticed my attempt at humour. And for that, no blame need be applied, I hope. All in all, not a big deal, really, but there you go. Do forgive me, please.
Apology stated, and hopefully accepted, may we now deal with the issue of correct usage? I don’t want to play this game if either one of us is going to get huffy, as it’s simply not worth it to me. But I like talking grammar, and frankly don’t get to do it very often. I take it by your response that you too are at least slightly interested.
So, on to the grammar, shall we? I do understand that there is a general rule. It is found in such bibles of grammar as Fowler’s Modern English Usage, and in modern usage manuals such as Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Conner, but is perhaps stated most succinctly in Strunk:
“1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with ‘s.
Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write,
Charles’s friend
Burns’s poems
the witch’s malice
This is the usage of the United States Government Printing Office and of the Oxford University Press.
Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in –es and –is, the possessive Jesus’, and such forms as for conscience’ sake, for righteousness’ sake. But such forms as Achilles’ heel, Moses’ law, Isis’ temple are commonly replaced by
the heel of Achilles
the laws of Moses
the temple of Isis”
(I note that this is also the rule followed by The Economist, and I am open to the idea that it is because I am used to that writing that I find this rule so acceptable.)
I also understand that some feel that there are exceptions to this rule, most of which have to do with pronunciation. So, for instance, if you say “Jonezes hat”, you would write it “Jones’s hat”, whereas if you say “Jonez hat”, you would write it “Jones’ hat”. My reaction to this? Part of me wonders why writing should give way to pronunciation, as if writing is just an attempt to keep up with the way we really babble back and forth. Another part of me realizes that unless one of these two decides to stick close to the other, we risk speaking a different language than we write, and since writing is more thoughtful, it had better be the one that adapts consciously to the vagaries of pronunciation evolution. Still another part of me thinks that this rule has to do with pronunciation as well as writing: that in fact, it is insisting that speakers pronounce “Charles’s friend” with two esses, not just one. If it is not that, then do we bother with rules of pronunciation, or do we allow whatever, and catch what we can in our writing?
Still, although this is interesting stuff, I am not so sure how applicable it is to the issue at hand. The words that form the exceptions based on pronunciation are words that would be difficult to say if we added another sibilant sound: they are, in general, words with at least two sibilants sounds already. For words with just one such sound, Strunk’s “Charles’s friend” serves as the example. We do not write “Charles’ friend” because it is not difficult for us to include both sibilants, and because it is not difficult, we keep to the rule. But then, if we agree on that, then how different is “McCharles’s Communications”?
So that’s how I see it. I know this all comes down to taste and if you wish to keep it with just the one s, I now know that it is a considered decision on your part. Furthermore, I recognize that as a practical matter, you have a difficult decision. Do you keep it the way you have it and thereby choose to offend those few potential customers who, like me, are going to wonder if you know Strunk’s rule; or do you change it, trying to assuage that minority and lose those who are upset that you don’t pronounce it the way they do? Ah, better to do what you feel is right, no, and damn the torpedoes?
Best of luck to you.
Brian