it is 1990's with an apostrophe

Milky wrote: I hate the use "happinesses". Sounds horrible. Use "joys" there. Same feeling here.

I hate the use "happinesses". Sounds horrible. Use "joys" there.

'Four esses, four ayes and two pees.' 'Four s's, four i's and two p's, ' if I had to.

I think the p's and q's argument is most salient here. The apostrophe is used for the sake of clarity. While conventionally used for the possessive, the apostrophe is also used to indicate vernacular omissions and contractions, such as in

(I would prefer 1990s .) Unless ofcourse when used as a possisive. In which case it becomes troubling to distinguish between some that was from 1990 or from the 1990s.

Actually, the possessive would be "ninteen ninties'" because you're talking about a possessive of the plural form, the decade is constituted by all of the years in total. So the abbreviated form of the possessive should be

Hello fooladder, welcome to the forums. Obvioulsy, with the possessive, you use the apostrophe. It was a popular tune sometime back in the early 1990s. He has 1990's biggest hit record. (Obviously, a possessive.) EDITED for clarity

I've edited my prior post for clarity. I though it was clear by saying "the 1990s'" what I meant but apparently not. I don't think we're disageeing at all here - do you?

Hello. 1) 1990s 2) 1990's Both are acceptable and often used, aren't they? The first one is my preference, though. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/weekly/ed/ed20070526a1.htm "... in the early 1990s..." I think that 1990, 1991