<P> The term is believed to have been coined in the middle of the 20th century by a teacher of languages working in Liverpool, at a time when such mistakes were common in the handwritten signs and advertisements of greengrocers (e.g., Apple's 1 / - a pound, Orange's 1 / 6 d a pound). Some have argued that its use in mass communication by employees of well - known companies has led to the less literate assuming it to be correct and adopting the habit themselves . </P> <P> The same use of apostrophe before noun plural - s forms is sometimes made by non-native speakers of English . For example, in Dutch, the apostrophe is inserted before the s when pluralising most words ending in a vowel or y for example, baby's (English babies) and radio's (English "radios"). This often produces so - called "Dunglish" errors when carried over into English . Hyperforeignism has been formalised in some pseudo-anglicisms . For example, the French word pin's (from English pin) is used (with the apostrophe in both singular and plural) for collectable lapel pins . Similarly, there is an Andorran football club called FC Rànger's (after such British clubs as Rangers F.C.), a Japanese dance group called Super Monkey's, and a Japanese pop punk band called the Titan Go King's . </P> <P> In the UK there is a tendency to drop apostrophes in many commonly used names such as St Annes, St Johns Lane, and so on . </P> <P> In 2009 a resident in Royal Tunbridge Wells was accused of vandalism by one neighbour after he painted apostrophes on road signs that had spelled the street name as St Johns Close . </P>

When do you use s at the end of a word