I don’t usually read my receipts. I wonder how many gems I’ve been missing? Fortunately, Meg found this one.
Well, this isn’t THAT big a mistake, if you think about it — “h” is right next to “i.” On those paper signs that hang over chalkboards, I mean. I guess that explains it?
Sometimes Reporter #1 can’t wait to send me photos via her Compy 386, so she texts ’em to me. And I have my SMS program set up so that it scrolls texts across my status bar, which means I read the text she sends before I can open the picture. I’m still not sure quite what I envisioned when I read this:
I don’t know why we have no commas, inconsistent periods, or what the hell spray they are worried about.
Ayup. Also, I’d like to point out that this appears to have been posted on some sort of kid-thingy. I applaud Reporter #1’s child-raising style, if she takes time out of play to express her horror at incoherence. No wonder Kid #1 is so awesome!
Chris H. found this on his way to Bristol, VT. He says he made his wife turn around so they could photograph it.
The real tragedy here, of course, is that this was probably done on purpose. I like to think that’s why this place is apparently for sale.
And yes, I know “nother” is not a word.* But what about this word in use at Colleen’s local Target?
I actually remember having a heated conversation with my mother when I was in high school and used the word “funner,” and she immediately corrected me. If I am remembering correctly, I hied myself off to a dictionary — these were big, heavy books printed on paper, back in the day — and discovered that I was correct.
So when Colleen sent this in I wasn’t sure if I should post it, or what Colleen’s deal was. And I did what I usually do when confused: consulted the Google Gods. Thereby I learned that this is actually a question of some real controversy!
Citation 1: The Oxford English Dictionary (edited only for page-fitting; click to embiggen**)
Now you’ll observe that the OED doesn’t even recognize “fun” as an adjective. Apparently it is also grammatically incorrect for me to say “I had a fun time writing this post.” I think that tells us a little something about the, er, un-fun nature of the OED. If you will.
Citation #2: Merriam-Webster (again, edited only for page-fitting)
Actually, this is an interesting comparison of two really different philosophies, isn’t it? Look at those colorful ads hanging out to the left of the M-W results. The OED page was utterly ad-free. Huh.
Anyway, back to “funner,” which here is a legitimate variant.
And that, my friends, makes the Merriam-Webster dictionary funner than the Oxford English Dictionary. But I’m guessing that won’t surprise too many people…
*Okay, M-W actually lists “nother” too. But it’s noted quite clearly as an “other” part of speech and “informal,” neither of which is true of “funner.” So.
**”Embiggen,” of course, is a perfectly cromulent word.
Another random picture-message appeared on my phone from Q:
Right off the top, I’d like to offer this sign-maker a cookie for going with over-enthusiastic DOUBLE UNDERLINING instead of quotation marks. You know some people would have gone with quotation marks, because — as Q’s venerable father said to me a few years ago — it’s what the discerning writer uses to express enthusiasm. So, have a cookie.
Also, I can’t really explain why, but for some reason I feel like the question mark belongs here. Read it like this: “Girlfriend, PLEASE? This is a hairnet area.” See?
John says it all:
That poor, poor semi-colon.
Apparently John found this in the Field Museum in Chicago. John doesn’t live in Chicago, so we can conclude that he took this picture for my little ol’ blog while he was on vacation. Anybody else going on vacation? Anybody else taking pictures of errors that they want to send in to a friendly blog about errors?
I don’t know about you, Dear Readers — look at me assuming I have more than one reader! — but I often find my deepest sentiments expressed perfectly in the pages of Victorian literature. Okay, I read too much as a kid, probably. But an example. I received this picture from my father, who recently voyaged to the Far East without me and, I might add, without a camera, and who is therefore very lucky he had a smartphone with him. Considerately, he sent this along to me, and my first thought was:
I like it so, it — it makes me feel sorrowful.
No joke, peeps, that is literally the first thing I thought. Seriously: I read too much as a kid.
In case you can’t see it clearly — I reduced its size rather drastically so the neon wouldn’t sear your retinas, and that’s how much I care, Dear Readers — it says “Country dishs homely dishs.”
I’ve made the point before that I don’t think it’s totally fair to go after non-native speakers, and this is someone who has translated their shop name into English in a country where most of his/her clientele might be expected to speak Chinese, so they get extra extra leeway. I mean, I can’t even imagine what many of the signs on Chinese restaurants around here must say, but I’d bet quite a few of them are less than grammatically perfect. So this place gets a pass; I’m not even putting it in the misspelling category.
But honestly? Doesn’t it make you feel sorrowful, you like it so? Can you imagine being a Chinese person from some far-flung, rural part of China, which is a very very large place? You’re far from home and you’re hungry, and then you see this sign, which I’m guessing is saying something like “Down-home country cookin’.” Isn’t this a place you would eat?
Much like Mr. Miyagi, the person who made these tags is… not yet successful.
Bobby Tables is all lawyer-y and stuff now. And he went to a pretty good school. You may have heard of it. So he gets to complain about this.
This is the reason this blog exists, people. It isn’t so much the handwritten signs, although those are funny sometimes and I’m happy to give y’all a place to vent about them. It’s the times like this, when big-name companies and institutions spend big bucks on signage, advertisements, or graduation programs and don’t bother to proofread — or, in this case, even run a simple spell-check — before processing.
Good job, Georgetown. *slow clap*
Rick found this on Time.com’s website. At the time I wrote this post, it was still incorrect.
Rick says:
I thought a publication as venerable as Time would have better proofreading, but it seems that online, nobody can see you spell… or something. …They also misrepresented “Guido” as “Guide” but, that’s not really a spelling error.
