Ok. I'm the Apostrophe Nazi

The misuse of the apostrophe is rampant and it's driving. me. NUTS.

I'm sorry. Didn't we all take grade 8 grammar? Didn't we all learn how to string a sentence together? You know, noun, verb, cool other stuff to make it sound good? It just boggles my mind the kind of horrible grammar prevalent in today's society.

My absolute pet peeve though is the apostrophe. I'm not sure when it happened, but about three years ago, people forgot how to use it and started throwing it around willy-nilly. Grammar should not be willy nilly. There are rules here people! For pete's sake if the Chicago Manual of Style is too much for you... try Strunk & White's Elements of Style. But, please, please,please learn the basics of grammar.

Here's a handy-dandy rule for remembering how to use the apostrophe:
An apostrophe is used for OMISSION and POSSESSION.

Omission - if you've taken out a letter or two (i.e. don't, wouldn't, it's (yes, it's - it is, take out the second i and you have it's) )
Possession - If it belongs to the person/thing you are referring to (Pink Pen's Blog, The cat's bowl. One exception... its. Because then it would be "it is"...)

There are NO OTHER times to use the apostrophe. Want to say something is plural? No apostrophe. There are cats, there are dogs, there are books. Unless you have something that belongs to the cat or the dog or the book, get rid of your apostrophe.
Going to the store to get a new pile of PCs and DVDs and CDs? Yup, no apostrophe there either.

I don't care if you want to separate your item from the "s"... it's more confusing to have the apostrophe than to not.

Because seriously, I don't care if you're writing a blog, and email, or an official business letter, if you want to earn your readers' respect, proper grammar is absolutely necessary.

And you won't piss me off. And I'll like that ;)

I just got into a conversation with our creative director and another copywriter about this. Season's Greetings. Well say it out, Greetings of the Season. One season. You know which one. So it needs an apostrophe.
But, fellow copywriter who's been doing this for 30 years says, I've seen it the other way, Seasons Greetings. So that's acceptable. Yes, says the Apostrophe Nazi, but it's wrong. So why would we, big international department store everyone already hates, want to perpetuate incorrect grammar, just because "you've seen it written like that before?" No, no, no, no, no. Gah! It's attitudes like this that started the whole using the apostrophe wrong thing in the first damn place!