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Possible Duplicates:
What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym?
What is the proper way to indicate possession when using an abbreviation such as Dr.?

An example:

Most DD's have good packaging skills.

How did things come to that instead of:

Most DDs have good packaging skills.

Compare that to:

Most Debian Developers have good packaging skills.

[update] This question was asked with the presumption that the first example is correct, so I was surprised to find that it isn't the case.

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marked as duplicate by RegDwigнt, Robusto, kiamlaluno, nohat Feb 3 '11 at 18:41


They don't. Many style guides recommend no apostrophe in "DDs". –  ShreevatsaR Feb 3 '11 at 16:35
check this link. I think the question is duplicated. –  Manoochehr Feb 3 '11 at 16:51
@kiamlaluno: well then, how about this: What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym? –  RegDwigнt Feb 3 '11 at 17:05
It's not really a duplicate. He isn't asking which usage is correct, he's asking how the incorrect usage arose. –  chaos Feb 3 '11 at 17:42

2 Answers 2

The (IMO, mistaken) apostrophe-based usage arises out of a feeling of awkwardness in simply appending an s or es to an acronym or initialism.

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The first quote is still considered incorrect, although (depressingly) widely used. "DDs" is likely to be strongly favoured (or favored for our US members) here...

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