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!
I saw this at a toy store. I will admit that I doubted myself a tiny bit. I mean, the diction is a little weird here and there, but basically this is written in English, and I am well aware that I don’t actually Know All The Words. So maybe “consentation” was a thing?
Anyway, the public service part: don’t Google “consentation.” Because you’ll find it used across the internet, and just looking at the Google summaries will make you despair of humanity’s ability to write.
So, um, Schylling Toys? SPELL CHECK. You’re welcome.
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.
Lisa R. found this, and wonders if the patient in question was royalty.
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This submission relates to my belief that languages do evolve. I struggle with that notion, because evolution happens through repeated mutation, and sometimes linguistic mutations are actually errors. It’s fascinating to go back and take apart a wrong-mutation evolution in retrospect (“apple-pie order” is one of my faves). But it’s much less fun to watch that evolution happening when it’s pushing one of your buttons.
Personally, this is not one of my buttons. When I read a sentence like this, it definitely trips my grammar alarm. But then I go back, parse it, and think “Okay, I get what they did there.” Because I’m pretty sure no ad agency worth its Mad Men would let this ad out of the door if the copy said “While he or she waited.” If they didn’t want to do something radical (like using “she”) or potentially offensive (like going with “he”), this was the only choice.
For controversy-fueling, you can all check out this article.
Opinions?
Colleen has discovered a promising commodity for you all to invest in! It’s… customers!
I’m distracted by the non sequitur. Okay, so customers provide a high rate of return here; what does that have to do with the cleanliness of the bathroom?
Reporter #1 wants to know if we agree with her that “shutdown” is a noun and “shut down” a verb. To which I say: of course you’re correct. And also: good luck with that.
If you want to be more cheerful about it, we could see this trend as a return to our Germanic roots. I always did like how the Germans just smush everything together. Ausgezeichnet!
First-time submitter Tom C. has finally been driven to pushing the “send” button by, in his words, the “throw it against the wall and see what sticks” strategy employed by the maker of this sign.
I feel your pain, Tom, but a little distracted by the hilarity of the fact that these… are not any of the above sorts of apples, delicious or not.
And while I’m ruminating: Kroger clearly has software for the making of signs, because across the country the signage is in the same font and on the same paper. Could they not default-activate the spell checking feature on that software? Just an idea.
Tom says the state of spelling in the world today makes him cry quietly to himself. I say what we really need is a barbaric yawp! There you go, dear readers. Go floss your mental teeth with that.
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?
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I’m just trying to provide some helpful advice for Reporter #1, who says
I… don’t even know where to start with this.
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Aw, come on, Reporter #1! We can do this. Let’s see. That’s a bizarre, if not ungrammatical, choice of preposition, for one thing. And I kind of feel like “Children pick-up only” would feel less like an instruction being given to children if they’d gone with… something else. Yeah, this sign just creeps me out too.
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.]