Seeking Grammar Police Ruling - Typo's

[Steve]

---  "Geoff Bannister" <gbannister10 at ...> wrote:
>
> ---  "sistermagpie" <sistermagpie@> wrote:
> >
> > > bboyminn:
> > > 
> > > But that is my very point, I'm not saying that "'s" 
> > > pluralizes anything. I'm saying it /contracts/ a phrase
> > > already ending in "s"; 'TYPOgraphical errorS'. 
> > 
> > Magpie:
> > But the phrase doesn't end in an s unless it's plural. 
> > Typo is short for TYPOgraphical error. So typo is the 
> > abbreviation and typos makes that short form plural.
> 
> Geoff:
> I would agree with Magpie on this one. Just to make my point,
> in a recent post, I used a couple of abbreviated English words
> which are accepted as the norm.... vet and exam. Their 
> universally accepted plural forms are vets and exams.
>

bboyminn:

But just because something is accepted as universal style,
doesn't mean other methods are wrong. Style guides are just
that 'guides'. Style guides say that ATM and FBI are acceptable
form, but that doesn't mean A.T.M. and F.B.I. are incorrect.
ATM and FBI are /acceptable/, but that doesn't mean other
forms are not also acceptable. 

Just as gov't and int'l for government and international have
given way to govt and intl as acceptable forms, doesn't mean
the originals are incorrect. Just because typo has become
the common form doesn't mean that 'typo.' is wrong. I suspect
typo' is somewhat correct as it indicates letters have been 
left out. 

Admittedly through common and lazy informal usage, 'typo' has
become an acceptable informal word. Just as info, vet, and
exam have. But those were never words, they were merely accepted
as common usage in common informal speech.  

The only question at hand, regardless of common or acceptable
style, is whether "typo's" forms a valid contraction for the
already plural 'TYPOgraphical errorS'?

It doesn't matter that typos is the common informal plural
of typo. What matters is whether I have formed a valid
contraction. 

Are their hard and fast rules for contractions in informal 
speech (or writing)?

I admit that ending with "'" is not common but it does exist.
More common is "xxx'y" implying that letters have been dropped
from the middle, as in "can't" for 'can not'. 

So, once again, regardless of what is accepted or common style,
which is never absolute, have I formed a valid contraction 
according to the rules of forming contractions in informal
speech and writing?

steve/bboyminn