‘Kid’s Corner’ or ‘Kids’ Corner’?

Kid's Corner

Microsoft’s ‘Kid’s Corner’ should really be ‘Kids’ Corner’. It’s not just for one child; it’s for all children. Deliberate naming choice or slippery apostrophe?

In one of the IT giant’s Windows Phone adverts, Holly Willoughby, it seems, spends her days off cooking and letting her children into her phone. The ‘Kid’s Corner’ feature limits what they can do.

I’m sure many of Microsoft’s finest marketing minds pored over this decision. However, I can’t help but feel it should be ‘Kids’ Corner’ and not ‘Kid’s Corner’. Simply substitute ‘Kid’s’ with ‘Child’s’ to get ‘Child’s Corner’. Doesn’t ‘Children’s Corner’ sound more natural?

Following the logic that one plural form is possibly more accurate, the other version is better too. Or is it simply a clear-cut case of greengrocer’s apostrophe and no-one checking the proof?

Which do you think is best? Or do you think that the apostrophe really was overlooked by everybody and is actually in the wrong spot?

Of course, it may well be that you simply don’t care and that I really must get out more…

2 thoughts on “‘Kid’s Corner’ or ‘Kids’ Corner’?

  1. It looks pretty cringeworthy. The ad refers to her kids, and “kid’s corner” is meant to control what they do with her phone.

    It looks so wrong to me I’m not even sure it was meant as the possessive. Could it just be a greengrocer’s apostrophe? Or is that too unkind?

  2. Hi James!

    Yep, it’s certainly a possessive 🙂

    Over on Twitter, @heatheratchison (a director at Afia) puts it very well: “Yep, they got that one wrong. It’s not the corner of the kid, but the corner of the kids. So should be kids’ corner.”

    I’m just surprised they didn’t seem to spot it. Unless they did and chose ‘kid’s’ based on some other logic. I’d be genuinely interested to know!

    Thanks for commenting, James 🙂

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