punctuation «

Explain-y.

Written By: admin - Nov• 02•11

To draw attention to this jack so emergency responders know where it is, you’d want “Firefighters: telephone.” Or, you know, something less stilted, but approximately that.

To explain what this hole is to the average bystander so they don’t stick a pencil in it, you’d want “firefighters’ telephone” or even “firefighters’ telephone jack,” just to make it really clear.

While I’ll concede that perhaps not everybody needs “firefighter” to be a single word (although a quick Google shows me that many actual fire departments agree with me), this is at least bizarre, and probably incorrectly punctuated.

Thanks, Reporter #1!

Posted in other punctuation mistakes, punctuation, subject/verb and structure, words & syntax | No Comments »

Durr.

Written By: admin - Oct• 19•11

This is another one of those typos that is probably totally easy to explain, but points to a frustrating lack of proofreading.

I’m sure that the original typist entered “tagged/towed,” and then noticed the text was aligning improperly and modified it — partially. And so we end up with a “Paris in the the spring” situation that Kacia L. says she didn’t even notice on any of the “countless” times she’s walked past this sign. The brain is a funny thing!

Posted in other punctuation mistakes, punctuation | No Comments »

Chi. Knees. Restore. Aunt.

Written By: admin - Oct• 13•11

Dave’s comment on this one is “Unnecessary punctuation LOL.” Um, yes. Also, Dave came up with the delightful title of this post. It’s all real words! It’s just nonsensical!

I’m now going to amuse myself for five minutes or so by contemplating whether this is actually wrong. It’s certainly annoying, and I’d throw something at it if I had something throwable. Hmmm.

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One for the jury.

Written By: admin - Oct• 04•11

Lisa R. found this one. I’m inclined to want to accidentally kick it as I walk past myself, but I can see a certain argument that there’s no problem here. Votes?

Posted in apostrophes, punctuation | 5 Comments »

So much reading between the lines

Written By: admin - Sep• 30•11

Reporter #1 sent me a text. The body of the text said only

Haircuts: C. Punctuation: F.

I so, so hope that this picture was taken in a fit of pique inspired by a haircut disaster. I mean, not that I wish a haircut disaster on Reporter #1 or any of her loved ones, but that makes the story so much funnier. “You’ll give me an unremarkable haircut? Oh yeah?? Well, I shall criticize your punctuation. How about that?”

[Note that the apostrophe is abused twice, since “sams” is not a thing.]

Posted in apostrophes, punctuation | 2 Comments »

There are too many of them!

Written By: admin - Sep• 28•11

Kacia innocently asked, “Did I send you this one last year?” And… I don’t know. I went off to see if I could find it, but I only ended up getting distracted by my own posts. There are a lot of posts on this site. And a good number of them are from fairs, even a couple from the Minnesota State Fair, which may be famous for its food-on-a-stick but still provides Kacia with fodder every year.

So: I have no idea, Kacia. And I don’t care. It’s egregious even if it’s recycled.

Posted in apostrophes, punctuation | No Comments »

Seriously niche product

Written By: admin - Sep• 27•11

Apparently, Tumbleweed Pottery has done some seriously intense market research. They’ve discovered that there are enough mug-loving cat owners whose cats are named Honey to merit a product line just for those people!

I would have bought this for my husband — or rather, I would have bought it for my husband to give back to me, because it’s his cat and she is clearly his #1. But unfortunately her name is Ashley, so it just wasn’t going to work out. Sad face.

Posted in capitalization, other punctuation mistakes, punctuation, words & syntax | No Comments »

shudder

Written By: admin - Sep• 27•11

I’m glad I’m not the only one who can take an idea and run with it, mentally speaking, for miles and miles. Reporter #1 saw this at a Tops Friendly Market and concluded that these veggies were produced

… On an industrial farm where they have to stew in their green bean filth in too-small cages and they never see the sun.

If your RPB spidey-sense is tingling, yes, Tops is a repeat offender.

Posted in "quotations", punctuation , Tops Friendly Markets | 2 Comments »

It’s that time again!

Written By: admin - Sep• 26•11

State Fair time, that is!

And Kacia’s been hard at work carefully documenting it for us. Her first Item of Business is this:

I question the amount of trans fat in the fries based on this sign. Also, we seem to be missing at least one comma. It’s like they couldn’t decide whether to format the sign as a bulleted list of features or as a sentence, and tried to combine both.

I’m with you on the trans fat issue, Kacia. Also, I really would like to go see where fresh fries are grown. I’m envisioning a field. A field full of fresh french fries.

Posted in "quotations", other punctuation mistakes, punctuation | 5 Comments »

The socks, they are knocked off.

Written By: admin - Sep• 22•11

…apparently my uncle reads my blog! And has submitted a picture! In particular, this picture!

This is a fun one to take apart. As Uncle G. notes, “It should say motorcyclists,” but that in fact “No, they don’t!” [Aside to all responsible motorcyclists: no offense!]

But in fact a sign saying “Motorcyclists use extreme caution” would also be… pretty random and inexplicable for a street sign. I think they’d benefit from a colon or a font size change.

Posted in other punctuation mistakes, punctuation, words & syntax | 3 Comments »

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