by Grammar Girl
A Twitter user name Nick Piesco forwarded me the following message about making product names plural:
The Company Line: iPad 2 Tablets
Product names are always tricky because they are usually trademarked, and companies don’t like you to use trademarked words generically. The Apple page Guidelines for Using Trademarks and Copyrights gives this example:
Rules for Proper Use of Apple Trademarks
1. Trademarks are adjectives used to modify nouns; the noun is the generic name of a product or service.
2. As adjectives, trademarks may not be used in the plural or possessive form.
Correct: I bought two Macintosh computers.
Not Correct: I bought two Macintoshes.
In other words, Apple wants you to say you have “two iPad 2 tablets,” but we all know that’s not realistic in casual writing and speech. I’ve addressed plurals of product names before (the plural of “Blackberry” is “Blackberrys,” even though RIM wants you to call them “two Blackberry smartphones”), but I’ve never faced a question about a product name that ends with a version number. Continue reading ‘What Is the Plural of “iPad 2″?’
