Ross writes:
Spotted this the other day at a cultural institution in New York City. I can’t be more specific without getting in trouble. Thought you’d appreciate the thought that went into putting the apostrophe in the wrong place. Surely it couldn’t be “Ladies’”?
I like the random capitalization and punctuation. (And, how on earth would Ross “get in trouble” for describing where he took this picture?)
#1 by john on December 15, 2007 - 5:33 pm
I’m guessing by “cultural institution” he means “strip club”
#2 by phaedrus on December 15, 2007 - 7:29 pm
Since the ladies’ room is out of order, you must instead use the second floor. There’s not much privacy on the second floor, but if you’ve gotta go…
#3 by Signs&Wonders on December 16, 2007 - 6:35 pm
that was my first thought (what phaedrus said.) It didn’t say to use the “2nd floor RESTROOM”–just “the second floor”. Messy!!!
#4 by Eva-Sensei on December 16, 2007 - 6:40 pm
Wow, this gives me a huge flashback to a time when some guy came onto my college campus to hand out fliers to a local bar. Like most ladies who passed him, I accepted the paper as it was offered to me. Upon discovering that the flier said “Tuesday is Ladie’s Night,” I turned around and gave it back the guy, telling him that I’d never patronize a bar that couldn’t use apostrophes correctly. Poor guy was dumbfounded.
#5 by john on December 16, 2007 - 6:44 pm
Eva-Sensei, you are my hero.
#6 by Blue on December 17, 2007 - 6:01 pm
Eva-Sensei is my hero too!!
Second floor might start to flood fast!
#7 by Gez on December 19, 2007 - 12:57 pm
Eva-sensei, I hope you said that in the most patronising voice possible for maximum irony.
John, I agree. It has got to be a strip club.
This phenomenon is frighteningly common. It’s almost as though the writer is thinking “I know how to spell ladies, but I have to put an apostrophes somewhere!
#8 by Gez on December 19, 2007 - 12:58 pm
Oops, I forgot to close quotation marks. They’ll have my Grammar Nazi card off me for this.
#9 by Anonymous on March 17, 2008 - 6:11 pm
He is probably worried about getting in trouble because he works there. Maybe his boss wrote the sign.
#10 by Meaghan on April 12, 2008 - 2:28 am
Or it’s somewhere in NYC that has banned photographs? Is that still in effect?