Specifically, dictionary.com says:
quote:
a·pos·tro·phe n.
The superscript sign ( ' ) used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of numbers, letters, and abbreviations.
So "I saw two cat's fighting in the alley" is still not okay, but according to this, "There's a stack of broken VCR's in the back room" or "I've got three jacks and a pair of 10's" would be okay.
Two of my primary functions at my job are writing and editing, so allow me to speak with all the authority I can muster when I say that I would never accept this usage unless absolutely necessary. That is, if I were pluralizing a lowercase letter 'a' -- e.g. "Please delete the five extra a's from the word 'banana' in the third paragraph" -- then the apostrophe would be useful to avoid confusion with the word "as". But I don't see any reason to use an apostrophe with acronyms, abbreviations, numbers, or decades; I think it looks bad and might confuse those less fluent in the language, and I correct that usage every time I see it.
So basically I'm saying that dictionary.com is wrong. Not completely wrong, but a little wrong.
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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!
