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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.

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2 Answers 2

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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".

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  • 2
    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.
    – delete
    Aug 6, 2010 at 1:19
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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 6, 2010 at 1:21
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    Wikipedia aside, the reasoning -- based on the purpose of apostrophes -- is perfect. +1 @nohat
    – Pops
    Aug 6, 2010 at 5:36
  • Agreed, you should definitely remove the reference to "wikipedia" from an otherwise perfect answer.
    – Fattie
    Jun 13, 2011 at 21:49
  • Caveat Emptor!!
    – Brad
    Oct 10, 2013 at 21:01
-1

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

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