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?
Voici:
Firstly, I love that this was submitted by Chris, whom I haven’t seen in, oh, 23 years or so.
Secondly, I love that this person seriously worked “somewhat” in to this lovely sign, because “somewhat” is a word that’s vastly underused. That totally outweighs the “Thankyou” and “in convince” they have going on.
Thirdly, I love that Dunkin’ Donuts can get pink and orange to work together so cheerfully.
And lastly, I love the fact that when I finished reading this sign, in my head I heard the Emperor saying “This Dunkin’ Donuts is FULLY ARMED AND OPERATIONAL.” Sometimes my brain really amuses me.
I just received a frantic bat-signal from Bill M., directing me to the OED Word of the Day.
I know dictionaries sometimes decide to legitimize non-words; “d’oh” is one of my very faves. Right or wrong, though, this makes my teeth hurt. I’m off to see if the OED recognizes “can vegetables” and “old fashion whatevers” as well.
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.
I’ve never done this before, but I’m going to do it now, because I’m all kinds of emotionally invested in this one. I’m going to use my grammar and writing blog for something other than mocking people’s bad grammar and writing.
This is Emma.
Emma belongs to a woman named Marsha Weaver, owner of a little business called The Cozy Cavy. Marsha makes beds and other accessories for small animals and donates a massive amount of time and money (and beds and accessories!) to small-animal rescue groups around the world. Marsha’s also an adopter of many homeless small animals, like Emma.
Last Wednesday, Marsha’s house in Alabama was utterly destroyed in a tornado. Miraculously, the Weavers all survived. And they’ve even found a few of their furry friends alive, including Emma. But many more little guys are missing or dead. And the Weavers themselves have nothing but each other.
I only know Marsha through the animal rescue community, but I’ve been delighted to watch as that very community has come together to help Marsha get back on her feet. She’s donated so much time and money to these little animals, and now the animals (via their people!) have the chance to give back.
If you were thinking of donating to the rescue/rebuilding efforts in Alabama, your donation to our Marsha-fund would be greatly appreciated. (Also note that the linked-to blog is a fabulous place to drop your feel-good donations on a REGULAR month, if you like little animals…)
http://sponsoraguineapig.blogspot.com/2011/04/for-month-of-may.html
(And if you’d like a better-written account of the whole scenario, check out this blog!)
…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.
Reporter #1 sent this one in, and y’all know how far it is from my nature to question Reporter #1’s judgment, but — well, take a look.
Reporter #1 thinks someone tried to fix this, but I’m not convinced that it isn’t just textspeak, whether deliberate to begin with or the result of someone’s noticing the poor spelling. Readers?
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!
