• MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip
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    20 hours ago

    Basically apostrophes are never used to separate a word from a normal suffix in this kind of novel or unusual construction. Pretty much just use apostrophes for contractions and (most) possessives. Example: 90s, not 90’s.

    Edit: In English, for English words. Some languages, either those normally rendered in Latin script* or transliterated into it**, make use of apostrophes either to modify an adjacent phoneme or to indicate particular sounds or a glottal stop.

    * English-like letters and punctuation

    ** Like Japanese written as if it were English, for example “Ohayo gozaimasu” which is written in hiragana as おはようございま.

    Source: Amateur with the dangerous amount of a little knowledge

    Edit2: Others point out (correctly) that referencing the 1990s as a decade would be properly written as '90s, which is still a use of an apostrophe for a contraction.

    • SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      So if you said you were a 90’s child, wouldn’t that be okay? (As you are a child of/possessed by the 90s) A nineties’ child, if you will?

      • MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip
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        9 hours ago

        As bitjunkie said, if you were referring to 90s in the possessive, it would be 90s’ since it’s a plural noun already - much like parents’ mortgages or stores’ buildings.

        That said, I would probably look at the phrase “90s child” as either (1) a compound noun not needing anything to be possessive (like “ice cream”), or (2) with “90s” as an adjective modifying “child” (like “latchkey kid”).

    • Soup@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      And, actually, I believe it’s ‘90s! So there is one, it’s right in front.

      • MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip
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        20 hours ago

        '90s is a contraction of 1990s, or whatever other century’s tenth decade is implied. So the apostrophe belongs as an example of a contraction or possessive :)

      • Zachariah@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        But your apostrophe is upside down (it became a curved single-open-quote in your version). It’s supposed to be this way:

        ’90s

      • Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        Just 90s if it’s a reference to someone’s age. And the apostrophe for referencing the 90s era is optional outside of formal writing and a dash can also be used e.g.; 90s-music depending on context.