1 Lambert: Great Uncle Hillbert wanted some entertainment in his hotel.
2 Lambert: Fortunately, several of the infinite numbers of merchants were musicians, and he convinced them to form a grunge band.
3 Lambert: They chose a couple of people from each of the infinite number of caravans. Then they just had to pick a band name.
4 Alvissa: What did they decide on?
4 Lambert: Aleph-N Chains.

For some reason completely unrelated to this comic, I was having a chat with friends the other day about the appropriate way to place apostrophes in constructions such as fish ’n’ chips. My personal preference is to include an apostrophe wherever a letter is missing, thus on both sides of the n, since it stands for and.

At this point I looked up how the band Guns N' Roses does it, and found that they only use an apostrophe after the N. This caused one of my friends to comment that this was the only option that was unsupportable. He said that:

• two apostrophes (’n’) is acceptable, because it shows you're abbreviating the word and by removing a letter from each end,
• a single apostrophe at the front (’n) is acceptable, because it indicates a sound that's sort of like "an", which is how some people might pronounce the band name ("guns an roses"),
• no apostrophes at all (n) is acceptable, because it realistically represents how most people say the name, without any "a" or "d" sound ("guns n roses")
• but a single apostrophe at the end (n’) is completely wrong because it implies a vocalisation like "guns nd roses", which nobody in their right mind would say.

Anyway, on the same day as this conversation, just a few hours later, I was working on this comic, and looked up the history of the band Alice in Chains. I discovered that lead vocalist Layne Staley was previously in another band which had considered naming itself Alice in Chains, but was worried by the female bondage connotations, and so suggested calling that band Alice N' Chains instead. With one apostrophe, after the N! Staley later went on to form a different band, and decided that the name Alice in Chains was just too good not to ever use, and the rest is history.

But what is it about musicians that they can't get basic use of apostrophes correct?

Exhibit B: The B-52's.

Exhibit C: Novembers Doom.

Exhibit D: Hear'Say.