Wedding Etiquette Forum

The Smiths or The Smith's?

When referring to a family as the LastNames or LastName's which do you use? I have seen both but which one is grammatically correct?
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Re: The Smiths or The Smith's?

  • Morrissey and Co.
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_smiths-smiths?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:fba6664d-851e-4ab6-a4e9-926bdd5dc6c7Post:1bd6112e-dbcc-45e0-bf36-1dc0a53a6116">Re: The Smiths or The Smith's?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Morrissey and Co.
    Posted by zippityb[/QUOTE]

    I'd agree with this option. 
  • It's 'The Smiths' but generally that's not used on invitations.  I did have one invitation where I wrote 'The Smith Family' on the outside and listed them all individually on the inner envelope because there were so many of them. 
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  • I tried to quote this, and it showed up in an entirely different post.

    OP - did you graduate from HS? This is not rocket science, I'm sorry...this is 5th grade stuff.
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  • Holy mother of god.

    Apostrophes don't make plurals.  They do not.
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_smiths-smiths?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:fba6664d-851e-4ab6-a4e9-926bdd5dc6c7Post:86459986-2bd3-4e8e-9a94-97ca2f5f0505">Re: The Smiths or The Smith's?</a>:
    [QUOTE]I tried to quote this, and it showed up in an entirely different post. OP - did you graduate from HS? This is not rocket science, I'm sorry...this is 5th grade stuff.
    Posted by pumpkinpumpkin[/QUOTE]

    I so love your sig pic.  I can't read any of your posts without hearing them as Sue Sylvester yelling them through the megaphone. 
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  • Just to clear up a few things...

    1. This has nothing to do with invitations it is just a general question

    2. Yes pumpkinpumpkin I have graduated 5th grade.. and then some...

    I was knew that "The Smiths" was correct, however I have several friends who are 25-30 with family blogs that refer to their families as the "Smith's". I have mentioned this to a few of them and they refuse to think that I am right on this.
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  • The Smith's would never be right.  Even if you were going for the possessive it would still be The Smiths'. 

    Unless maybe you were talking about a blacksmith and you're like, his BFF so you call him The Smith.

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  • Mr. Smith's cat ran away.

    The Smiths are going to look for it.

    The Smiths' car won't start, so it looks like Fluffykins will have to find his way home on his own.

    See OP?  Not very hard.
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  • edited November 2010
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_smiths-smiths?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:fba6664d-851e-4ab6-a4e9-926bdd5dc6c7Post:9e930225-48e0-4b03-ae21-682cf93e2c9f">Re: The Smiths or The Smith's?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Just to clear up a few things... 1. This has nothing to do with invitations it is just a general question 2. Yes pumpkinpumpkin  I have graduated 5th grade.. and then some... I was knew that "The Smiths" was correct, however I have several friends who are 25-30 with family blogs that refer to their families as the "Smith's". I have mentioned this to a few of them and they refuse to think that I am right on this.
    Posted by mandi921vh[/QUOTE]

    You need less dumb friends.

    The worst is when you see "The Smith's" on a mailbox. Unless they mean "The Smiths' house," but that would require a plural possessive, signified by the apostrophe going on the outside of the S. I mean, I guess it would be "the Smith's house" if it was a blacksmith and he lived alone.
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  • You do know that there are no minimum IQ requirements for starting a family blog, right?

    Your friends are wrong.
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_smiths-smiths?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:fba6664d-851e-4ab6-a4e9-926bdd5dc6c7Post:9e930225-48e0-4b03-ae21-682cf93e2c9f">Re: The Smiths or The Smith's?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Just to clear up a few things... 1. This has nothing to do with invitations it is just a general question 2. Yes pumpkinpumpkin  I have graduated 5th grade.. and then some... I was knew that "The Smiths" was correct, however I have several friends who are 25-30 with family blogs that refer to their families as the "Smith's". I have mentioned this to a few of them and they refuse to think that I am right on this.
    Posted by mandi921vh[/QUOTE]

    I didn't ask if you'd graduated 5th grade. I asked if you graduated from HS, because this was 5th grade material.

    Your friends are idiots. Sorry to say, but they are.
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  • Want to hear the best Smith's/Smiths story ever?  When we got married my aunt and uncle gave us a door knocker for our house that said "The Smith's est 2002"

    A) The grammar is quite obviously incorrect
    B) I kept my last name (and was quite vocal about it)
    C) I'm an English teacher Cry
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  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_smiths-smiths?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:fba6664d-851e-4ab6-a4e9-926bdd5dc6c7Post:5722be44-db75-4488-9b69-1c83adcebcc0">Re: The Smiths or The Smith's?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Want to hear the best Smith's/Smiths story ever?  When we got married my aunt and uncle gave us a door knocker for our house that said "The Smith's est 2002" A) The grammar is quite obviously incorrect B) I kept my last name (and was quite vocal about it) C) I'm an English teacher
    Posted by DramaGeek[/QUOTE]

    Thats' awesome.   <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-tongue-out.gif" border="0" alt="Tongue out" title="Tongue out" />
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