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Apostrophical query:

  • a) Buyers Remorse
  • b) Buyer Remorse
  • c) Buyer's Remorse
  • d) Buyers' Remorse

My guess is b or c, as it seems like any example is talking about the remorse of one specific buyer, but since it is a collective term that happens universally, perhaps the possessive plural is accurate. I suppose there’s potential that it’s a context-sensitive decision, deciding whether you are talking about exactly one buyer or about buyers in general.

choster
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davebug
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2 Answers2

27

Yes, it does happen to everyone, but the remorse belongs to each person individually. "Buyer's remorse" is the remorse experienced by a buyer. So the answer is (c).

Wikipedia agrees. Similarly the Corpus of Contemporary American English gives 36 examples of "buyer's remorse", but "buyer remorse" has just 1, and there are no results for either "buyers' remorse" or "buyers remorse".

nohat
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    Wikipedia is full of misusages and absurdities, such as virtually every article being plastered with the word "portmanteau" whether or not it's appropriate. Quoting Wikipedia as an example of good English usage is highly questionable. –  Aug 06 '10 at 01:19
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    Not quoting Wikipedia as an example of good English usage here. Quoting Wikipedia as an example of what the standard common name for something is. – nohat Aug 06 '10 at 01:21
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    Wikipedia aside, the reasoning -- based on the purpose of apostrophes -- is perfect. +1 @nohat – Pops Aug 06 '10 at 05:36
  • Agreed, you should definitely remove the reference to "wikipedia" from an otherwise perfect answer. – Fattie Jun 13 '11 at 21:49
  • Caveat Emptor!! – Brad Oct 10 '13 at 21:01
-1

All of these except a) are grammatically correct, so it's a style decision.