[Droid803]

Well, it's being phased out...

[swashmebuckle]

OK I broke down and looked around on the internet.  The AP Stylebook (long may it reign o'er the scurvy mass media) says no to the extra s after the apostrophe on singular possessive proper nouns ending in s.  Goober, however, is an Elements of Style man, and they say add the s no matter what or there's gonna be trouble.  I was wrong according to most of the places I looked about not adding s on singular possessive non-proper nouns ending in s, so "bus's" is indeed legit, as is "hippopotamus's".  The only style manual I hit up that supported me on that point was one by Mary Ansell, which said that it was acceptable in American English to use just the apostrophe, but I had never heard of her book before.  Getting back to the main point, if you refuse to make exceptions for proper nouns you will end up breaking the only really important rule of the English language: Try not to sound stupid.  I submit for your reading out loud pleasure:

Joan Rivers's sisters.  Hercules's seas.  Sisyphus's Syphilis.  Matt Damon.

So now I am a proponent of just writing it how you say it and respecting the author's vision by saying it how it's written.  No matter how much I hate looking at the words Bridget Jones's Diary.  This probably should be split off and deported to a board that is more supportive of tangential thread derailment. 

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Tinfoil, I think this thread should be locked instead of the FAQ one

[tinfoil]

I disagree, this is a good discussion, while the FAQ thread served it's purpose in post 1 and needs no further replies.

[TopAce]

...Goober, however, is an Elements of Style man, and they say add the s no matter what or there's gonna be trouble.

Are you so condescending to all who are not on the same wavelength as you?

The only style manual I hit up that supported me on that point was one by Mary Ansell, which said that it was acceptable in American English to use just the apostrophe

That really doesn't say much. This sentence could be interpreted as if in British English, the only viable way would be s's. In my experience, s's is more common in US English than in British English. I don't remember reading any British English book that used the s's way, but many American English books - including books on linguistics or a few Star Wars novels - prefer s's. If there are two things that I pay attention to - style-wise - while reading English-language sources are 1) which variant of English it is written in, and 2) how does it use its s-ending possessives, so I think my observations cannot be completely inaccurate or counterfactual.

Getting back to the main point, if you refuse to make exceptions for proper nouns you will end up breaking the only really important rule of the English language: Try not to sound stupid.

Your examples are artificially extreme. There's no way there will be so many s sounds anywhere in everyday speech, not to mention how many seas Hercules possessed in his life.

No matter how much I hate looking at the words Bridget Jones's Diary.

Then you must hate to read the FS2 tech descriptions of the Perseus, and a lot of novels.

[Wobble73]

OK I broke down and looked around on the internet.  The AP Stylebook (long may it reign o'er the scurvy mass media) says no to the extra s after the apostrophe on singular possessive proper nouns ending in s.  Goober, however, is an Elements of Style man, and they say add the s no matter what or there's gonna be trouble.  I was wrong according to most of the places I looked about not adding s on singular possessive non-proper nouns ending in s, so "bus's" is indeed legit, as is "hippopotamus's".  The only style manual I hit up that supported me on that point was one by Mary Ansell, which said that it was acceptable in American English to use just the apostrophe, but I had never heard of her book before.  Getting back to the main point, if you refuse to make exceptions for proper nouns you will end up breaking the only really important rule of the English language: Try not to sound stupid.  I submit for your reading out loud pleasure:

Is it? I always thought the plural of Hippopotamus was Hippopotamus? Or maybe at a stretch Hippopotami!

[TopAce]

We're talking about possessives, not plurals.

[Droid803]

You know what, we should just drop the subject, because we would be having the same discussion even had our title been "Alcibiades's Gamble", and it'll never go anywhere.

Plus, we're not changing it.
If you think it's wrong, fine with me. Whatever. LIVE WITH IT.

[tinfoil]

I believe that they're discussing the grammar itself and not our name at this point. Thus why this thread remains un-nuked.

[Droid803]

But you know, then it has nothing to do with us, and it's sitting in our forum, spawning rage.

[swashmebuckle]

Hmm, well I certainly didn't intend any condescension towards Goober or anyone who likes to use their apostrophes in any manner; I was trying to write about the subject in a lighthearted way, and I apologize if in doing so I inadvertently spawned up some rage.

not to mention how many seas Hercules possessed in his life.

Hercules seized seas as he pleased. 

[tinfoil]

But you know, then it has nothing to do with us, and it's sitting in our forum, spawning rage.

Point. Booted over to GenDisc.

[Dark RevenantX]

I always use the s' rather than s's because the possessive of my last name would otherwise become "ass's" at the end - I'd much prefer it to end in "ass'".

[tinfoil]

I think you lose either way

[Flipside]

Sorry for necrothreading, but I had to add....

S's is indeed grammatically correct, since you are talking about Singular objects, it is the gambit of a person called Alcibiades, so not a group of object or people known as 'Alcibiades', the s is not a pluraliser, therefore you need to add a second s to define it as the object of a single person.

However, English is extremely forgiving in that respect, so there's no incredible faux-pas with the other spelling

[Mobius]

Your examples are artificially extreme. There's no way there will be so many s sounds anywhere in everyday speech, not to mention how many seas Hercules possessed in his life.

"Mobius's solution"?

[BloodEagle]

I cast Life 3 on this thread.

[Mobius]

Areiz? Risveglio?

[Scotty]

Based on that rule thingy someone poster earlier, shouldn't it be "The Gamble of Alcibiades"?

[tinfoil]

Before the forum was public that's what goober named it. Also Alcibiades' Lamborghini.