Got it, thanks for trying! We got the answer we wanted, which is always nice.
Q. When using the plural of “ad,” i.e, “ad’s,” is it incorrect to use the apostrophe? The three-letter string “ads” just looks so wrong when typesetting it. Would appreciate your guidance.
A. “Ad” is just a regular word, and the plural “ads” is also regular, so there’s no need to mess with it. Plurals almost never take an apostrophe. Chicago style uses an apostrophe for the plural of lowercase single letters (x’s and o’s), but for little else (for instance, we write “dos and don’ts”). Of course, if you come across a plural that would be misunderstood without an apostrophe, you should use one: for instance, in A’s and B’s, the first term would be mistaken for “As” without an apostrophe, and the second term uses the apostrophe because it would look inconsistent to style them in different ways. Please see CMS 7.16 and 7.63–65 for more examples and exceptions.