Happy St. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY SPELL THIS CORRECTLY!

Written By: admin - Mar• 17•12

I won’t say this is my PET peeve, but it’s a peeve.  Fortunately, it’s Colleen’s pet peeve, so I’ll let her take it from here.

A few days later, Colleen forwarded this with delight.  Well, delight at her husband, I mean, not delight at the typo, and probably not delight at mega-grocery store Albertsons.  And while we’re on the subject, Albertsons — your “about” page informs me that you were founded by Joe Albertson, and that makes me suspect that you probably want an apostrophe IN YOUR OWN NAME, but OKAY

.

And just a day later, Colleen sent this, which she received from her sister.  The whole family is vigilant!

CHALLENGE:  How many wrong examples of this can YOU find today, Dear Reader?

BLOG NOTE:  I’m working overnights.  I won’t say I’m in a permanently bad mood, but I’m permanently confused about days and times.  Posts may be sparse until my next shift rotation…

Posted in apostrophes, misspellings & new words, punctuation, words & syntax | 1 Comment »

My real issue is indecision.

Written By: admin - Mar• 02•12

In other news, I’m adding a new category:  Bathrooms.

But seriously, folks, what gives?  Does one need to use a possessive with restrooms or not?  I’d find “Men Restroom” awkward in a vacuum, but when paired with “Womens Restroom,” which appears to be possessive, if incorrectly punctuated, it’s just too confusing for this early in the morning.

Posted in just wrong, punctuation | No Comments »

DAILY HEADDESK: “I don’t need no stinkin’ apostrophe” Edition

Written By: admin - Feb• 28•12

Submitted without comment, by me.

Posted in apostrophes, punctuation | No Comments »

A valiant attempt!

Written By: admin - Feb• 24•12

“Hey, whatchoo doing?”

“I’m working on a sign for the front door so people know they can come in here even during the festival.”

“Oh.  Hey, I think you need an apostrophe in ‘Tuesdays.'”

“Really?  Huh.  Okay.  I guess I’ll add one right… here.”

Posted in apostrophes, punctuation | No Comments »

A contemplation of cheese

Written By: admin - Feb• 23•12

Sometimes when I’m bored I go shopping.  I don’t always buy things, but I like to look.  And now I also like to take pictures.

For your consideration, the wrapper of the cheese I found at Kroger.

Ahem.

…If it had anymore than it’s 75% butterfat, it would technically be better.

Now I’m not at all going to argue that more butterfat will most probably make anything better.  That seems obvious.

But check this out!  Mere inches away, I found this sign.

I can only surmise that the wrapper was written first, and the sign is the product of a revision by an Honorary RPB Member.  Look at the masterful use of dashes and semicolons!  As well as, you know, a basic understanding of the difference between contractions and possessives.

Posted in apostrophes, honorary RPB member!, misspellings & new words, other punctuation mistakes, punctuation, words & syntax | No Comments »

Burlington Coat Factory: At least they’re consistent

Written By: admin - Feb• 22•12

You’ll have to take my word that this comes from a Burlington Coat Factory ad.

Actually, you won’t.  I can provide some evidence.  You can also just click through above to the website and see for yourself…

Plus, I’ve written about them before.  REPEAT OFFENDERS.

Posted in apostrophes, punctuation , | No Comments »

Older does not necessarily mean wiser

Written By: admin - Feb• 15•12

Susan and Michael found this sign from a company that’s been around, apparently, for a hundred years… and still hasn’t mastered the apostrophe.

(You have to get a little squinty with this one, but it welcomes “homeowner’s.”)

Posted in apostrophes, punctuation | No Comments »

Target comma missing the.

Written By: admin - Feb• 01•12

Reporter #1 says,

There are many reasons to dislike Target‘s American Girl knockoffs. This, however, may be the last straw.

You know how when you go someplace like Target there’s always a kid having a temper-tantrum in the toy aisle? Like, full-on screaming, on the ground, kicking, bodily fluids flying everywhere as they thrash around?

That’s how I feel inside my head, looking at this!

Posted in apostrophes, just wrong, punctuation , | No Comments »

I feel unclean and I cannot quite express why

Written By: admin - Jan• 30•12

I love you all.  I appreciate every submission (and want more! MORE!).  But sometimes I get submissions I choose not to use, because I don’t like them.  It’s my blog.

Sometimes I feel like the mistake was so obviously made by someone struggling with English that I don’t find it amusing… I’ve made hideous errors myself in foreign languages.  More than once!

Sometimes I don’t think the “mistake” was a mistake.  Sometimes I’m just in a bad mood and I don’t want to, jeez.

And then sometimes I find myself genuinely puzzled about the error.  I stare at it.  I try to think about what the submitter could have seen that I’m not seeing.  I try to be ONE with the error.

This picture wasn’t quite one of those.  Veronica wrote only “Gag” in her email, so I wasn’t sure what I was looking for.

It’s clearly a tagline, and I know copywriters have a bit of creative latitude in things like capitalization and punctuation.  So I looked at this one, and contemplated whether it was really a mistake.

Then I realized something.  I was HUGELY UNCOMFORTABLE.  What is it about this picture, y’all?  It’s totally unnerving!  There’s a figure in the corner that might be a baby-doll in a carseat, or it might be a crash test dummy, or it might be a dead body, it’s just sitting there floppily… there’s a poster with hivemind buzzwords… and then there’s

and I just can’t handle it any more.  What is this, Volvo?  What are you trying to do to us?  I’m so confused.

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

We know not whom to snub!

Written By: admin - Jan• 27•12

I’ll let Reporter #1 tell this story:

I found this postcard in the ladies’ room of the local outlet mall this weekend.

 I wish they’d managed to indicate what STORE it was for so that I could boycott them on account of their complete lack of a grasp of English grammar.
(I’ve compressed the image a little, so you’ll have to take my word for it — the store isn’t mentioned in the fine print either.)
I’m almost disheartened enough with the world that I’ll let the singular use of “product” stand here.  It might be businessspeak in the department store world, who knows.  But “button downs” really needs a hyphen and “womens” and “mens” are just unforgivable.  WHY DO YOU HATE THE APOSTROPHE, WORLD? WHY.
Posted in apostrophes, other punctuation mistakes, punctuation, words & syntax | 1 Comment »
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