ABCs

One of the areas that really gets confusing is in the pluralization of abbreviations. Even more confusing is when the abbreviation has a possession.

For example, the three major networks, ABC, CBS and NBC are each the same kind of name -- three-letter abbreviations for a TV network. The plural of these should be ABCs, NBCs, and CBSs. The possessive of these should be ABC's, NBC's, and CBS's. Yet invariably, with CBS, writers will use CBS's for the plural and CBS' for the possessive.

My argument is that CBS is an entity, and the "S" in CBS is not the "s" indicating possession or plurality, but is the first letter of the last word (System). Therefore, CBS should be treated exactly the same as ABC and NBC with regards to the way possession and plurality are indicated. Why should CBS be treated differently than the other two? It shouldn't be and therefore, CBS's (possession) and CBSs (plurality) are the correct ways of writing those words.

Sports fans may recognize that some media refer to the baseball statistic Runs Batted In (RBI) as: "Josh Hamilton had 4 RBIs in the game last night," whereas other media would say "Josh Hamilton had 4 RBI in the game last night." I think that USA Today was the first newspaper to use the "RBI" phrase rather than "RBIs." Just like ERA (Earned Run Average), you can refer to pitchers' ERAs and to batters' RBIs; the statistics' abbreviations are entities unto themselves. I don't think referring to a batter's 4 RBI in a game makes sense, even though the plural word "Runs" is embedded within the abbreviation. I can understand what is trying to be accomplished, but I argue that "RBI" is a "word" unto itself and should be plural on its own.