In honor of the occasion, first-time submitter Rick sends this New Yorker cartoon:
You know, I get the punchline — and love it. But honestly, this has always bothered me. Is it a holiday in honor of only YOUR mother, or ALL mothers? And if the latter, shouldn’t the apostrophe be at the end?
Veronica says, “I suppose if the kids were with you at the time of rental, ‘surprise’ might pass.”
Yeah, yeah, quotation mark abuse, blah blah blah. I’m way more hung up on: this is a THING? CHICK rental? And hey, if you bring it back alive, you get your money back!
Kacia says she’s confused about what she’s supposed to do if the building’s on fire.
I’m not sure this sign is even talking about that possibility. I think it’s part of a longer treatise on what to do if a fire exit exists. But I’m not really sure what it wants me to do, either.
…for apostrophe abuse, that is!
Kate and Chris apparently thought I would enjoy this top headline in their local paper, the Star News. I am still recovering from the hives it triggered!
Thanks for the thought, guys. 😛
Colleen was initially disturbed by this one, but on second thought says “I hate ham, so I agree that Honeybaked Hams are ‘excellent.'” See? No problem here. Move along.
So remember two weeks ago, when I talked about how much I love Willy’s Mexicana Grill, but how saddened I was by their blatant apostrophe abuse? And then their Facebook persona replied and said they would never do it again?
Yeah.
And don’t come back and say that “high school Friday IS at Willy’s,” because that’s nonsensical. Which leads me to this one, ALSO spotted at my local Willy’s tonight:
“A kid’s entree,” yes. But “kid’s combos”?
Your Sinaloa Tofu deserves better than this, guys!
Leah S. says it’s one thing to go for a pun, but another thing entirely to abuse an apostrophe that’s never done nothing to YOU.
You’re right, Leah, this is unforgivable. On the other hand, Leah also mentioned that she “saw this on a menu in Uptown (Mpls) a couple of weeks ago” but that “the food was so good that I lost my proofreader’s rage and forgot to send you the picture until now.” That? Also unforgivable.
In response to last Friday’s post, the Facebook persona representing Willy’s Mexicana Grill has this to say:
Right on, Willy’s!
I love Willy’s Mexicana Grill, and I’ll tell you the #1 reason why, which is that their sinaloa tofu is actually delicious, and doesn’t make me feel like a second-class citizen for avoiding meat. But I don’t care how delectable that orange juice and garlic marinade is, it doesn’t make this apostrophe abuse okay.
I kind of hoped that asterisk led to a footnote saying “Just kidding! We know there’s no reason to use an apostrophe here!” but it didn’t. Alas.
…and this jumbo shrimp clearly has vaporized vegetables. Right, Katie K? This is pretty clear to me, so I’m not sure why you sent it in.
Oh wait a second… what the heck are vaporized vegetables?
