Maggie writes:
I was searching for a dog breeder online, and found this glorious example of apostrophe abuse. It's like she wasn't sure of the correct usage, so she just tried it each way she could think of.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Debbies, Debbies's, Debbie's
Snack's in Long Beach
Christian found this sign at a pumpkin patch in Long Beach, California:
Unless it's an establishment owned by this guy, the apostrophe in the sign is incorrect.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Jesus has possessive problems (and listens to Kanye)
Courtenay writes:
When I opened my iTunes this morning, this is one of the shared libraries that came up. When even Jesus can't use an apostrophe correctly, we are all in trouble!!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Pullem' Up in Dallas
Marisa in Fort Worth, TX writes:
Attached is a billboard for a large campaign happening in Dallas, TX right now. The urban community is urging youngsters to pull up their pants. Obviously, they are more interested in britches than correct grammar.
Apostrophe misplacement aside, I'm all for it!
More Tattoo's
Cliff sent in this photo he took in Philipsburg, St. Martin:
"Tattoo's" seems to be a common mistake... any ideas why?
The Blue Possesses You
Anne sent in this sign from Glen Haven, CO:
Unless "The Blue" is the name of their house, that apostrophe is superfluous. I wonder if the sign maker got paid extra for carving that mark?
Monday, October 22, 2007
Abuse at Kroger
A sign from a Kroger store near Cumming, GA:
Okay, so we see a lot of mistakes like Soup's... but Varietie's?! Really?
(Thanks, Dave!)
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Omelette's
Spotted at Christie's Restaurant in Burlingame, California:
Not the first time we've seen this abuse...
(Thanks, David!)
Personalize'd Photo's (?!)
Jason writes in with:
I took this one at the local pumpkin farm which had a small temporary zoo set up where the kids could get their picture taken with various animals. It has the usual pluralizing-with-an-apostrophe mis-step, but the other one....huh? Were they trying to be Shakespearian or something?
Hometown Hero's
David sent this photo he snapped at a bank (in New Castle, IN) that:
...had this sign posted for what is a good cause - preparing care packages for our soldiers overseas. However, the glaring abuse of the apostrophe was too much for me not to share. They actually had signs posted at each teller window; this was the most out-of-the-way sign in the bank for me to get a picture of.
Does anyone want to claim they were using the apostrophe to show the omission of the "e"? ;)
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Does it ever end?
Laurie writes:
I found this little gem on the front door of a Stuart's store in Athens, NY. If you're wondering what the sign is referring to, they were having a big half galllon ice cream sale or something starting in a couple of days. This exhibit of abuse made me shudder and I had to pause to grab a picture of it. My cousins, who live up there and are culprits of apostrophe abuse themselves at times, didn't really see what the big deal was.
Enoki Mushroom's
Spotted this abuse on a package of Ostrom Farms mushrooms. I'm not quite sure why they decided to use an apostrophe in the description text but not just above on the label.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Minnesotas Beer Team's Up
Apparently the Minnesotas Beer Team is "up" with Minnesota racing. Whatever that means.
(Thanks, Jason!)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
A trove of errors from Salad Works
Carrie sent in this photo she took at Salad Works:
Two apostrophe errors, unnecessary quotation marks, and premise/premises confusion! What a find! Thanks, Carrie!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Possession Procession
Chandra sends in this television capture with the comment:
Do the oldcars (one word) own the hotrods (one word) that own the farm trucks that own the car?
Apostrophe Neglect: Charles'? Charles's?
Emily writes:
The CBC Radio 2 blog talks about a new radio show hosted by Gregory Charles. Maybe in this post, the blog writer got confused about whether he should've written "Gregory Charles' new show" or "Gregory Charles's new show", so he tried to solve that problem by simply omitting the apostrophe altogether.
Also in this entry, the blog author has spelled the word "feuilles" correctly on his first try but not his second try.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Up-do's
Complain Away sent in this picture and declared:
The only way this apostrophe is justified is if this word becomes part of a sentence like "This up-do's even worse than her botox."
Yes, but which one?
Emily in Montreal writes:
On news.yahoo.ca today, I was horrified to see the headline, "Survey finds Albertan's unhappy despite province's wealth." I guess that this headline was supposed to mean that many Albertans are unhappy. But I guess the headline would be correct if only one Albertan was unhappy (meaning, "Survey finds Albertan is unhappy".)
Pasta Marinara Night's
Annie sent in this photo taken while she was waiting for dinner in Wyandotte, Michigan:
I want to know, what exactly does this pasta marinara night possess?
Give me that old time religious abuse
Scott writes:
I am hoping that this will live up to the claim of "Oldest Cited Example"!
I have attached [a photo] of an old religious poster. Of interest is the text on the lines from Earth at the bottom to Heaven on the right -- "40 DAY'S, WAY'S". (I also like how "God, Jesus, and the Angles" are advertised as living in heaven!)
I found this display at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, VA. There is no placard for the poster in question, but in context of the notes around the display, I think it should be dated in the early 1800s.
Stoves & Spa's
Stephanie sent in a photo of this storefront in Puyallup, WA:
This has been driving me crazy the entire year we've lived here. What kills me is that it's punctuated wrong on the big neon sign, but punctuated correctly in several other locations on the storefront, one of which I couldn't even get in the shot. So why do it wrong on the BIGGEST and BOLDEST advertisement for your store?? Unless they only realized it once it was too late...
Friday, October 12, 2007
Since 53... feet?!
Ian found this great example at Zip's Drive-In in Spokane, WA (forwarded by Bethany of the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks) :
Giant abuse from the Tate
Annelisa writes in with:
The Tate has one of the best museum sites in the whole world - yet
check out the size of this fantastic illiteracy! What point size that, 24?
She also points out the bonus mistake just under the picture:
Marina Warner introduces Paula Rego's new illustrations for Charlotte Bront's Jane Eyre
That should be Bronte's, of course... unless they intended the apostrophe to pull double duty, showing possession *and* omission! ;)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
New York Times: Altered state's?
Sieglinde sent in this screen capture of an article found on the NYT website.
I wonder how long it will take before it's fixed?
UPDATE: (2:46 PST) That didn't take long... the article has been corrected.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Ouch! BBB's Big News, Big Mistake
Cliff sent in this glaring You're/Your confusion from the BBB of Ohio's latest newsletter:
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Alien's!
Stephani writes:
My boyfriend and I went to a special midnight showing of Aliens last week. We both spotted this right away, although I've shown it to others who couldn't figure out why we thought it was so funny...which really just breaks my heart.
Penny is from Heaven... and she wants your spare change
Tiffany spotted these umbrellas at her local Wal-Mart:
I should mention that not only was [the error] on one sign, it was on a sign attached to an umbrella hanging above about 8 other registers. I think I offended the poor register girl when I told her the grammatical errors made me hurt.
Clima'x??
Maria submitted this sign for a club in Tampa, Florida:
...because apparently it's better with a weird apostrophe somewhere in there, right? I mean, I hope so -- I hear those cost extra.
IHOP and Best Buy in Charlottesville
Matt writes:
The first is from an IHOP in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The second is from a service cart at a Best Buy in Charlottesville, Virginia, as well. Note the equally interesting use of quotes around "please."
Mural at Robert Frost Elementary School, Kirkland, Washington
A concerned parent sends in:
A nice example for the children to absorb at recess. Why not just fix it with some white paint? Have the teachers not realized that it is incorrect?
Discovery of Apostrophe Abuse
Jon pointed out that the Discovery HD Theater site has an errant apostrophe on the front page:
Looks like Discovery Communications needs a high-definition Web copywriter and proofreader to go along with its high-definition TV programming.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Burrito's
Karen and her son sent in this scan for a burrito place in Memphis, TN:
Oddly enough, the website for this establishment doesn't use the apostrophe.
Sponsor's
Matt sent in this screen shot...
from the Web site of the men's softball league in which I play.
What makes it funny for me is the mix of correct and incorrect apostrophes — including one that's not even on a plural word — along with some inexplicable capitalization.
It's in a school parking lot
Sagacious writes:
At this middle school in Florida, there are multiple signs with this wording in its parking lots. If you had to make a grammatical blunder, at least don't make it in front of a school. No wonder Florida is sometimes referred to as "Floriduh."
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Puppy's!
Doris writes:
Attached is a photo I took on a Tucson, Arizona street corner. I blocked out the telephone number. Not only do we have problems with an apostrophe but we don't know how to spell the name of the breed.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Look's like Clip On's
Amy in Nashville sent in these two examples of abuse:
The first one we encountered during a local jazz festival in Tennessee. Clip-on glasses are bad enough in general - with the misused apostrophe, they become doubly offensive.
The second is a screen cap from the movie, "The Lives of Others." 50th refers to a 50th birthday party. This movie won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (German). It makes me cry a little inside that an Academy Award-winning movie can't get an apostrophe right. However, it was a fantastic movie and I highly recommend it despite the apparent grammar-deficiency of the subtitlers.
"Grand Slam" errs
Steve writes:
This is a screen shot from an episode of "Grand Slam" on the Game Show Network. This is the very last question in an early-round match between Ed Toutant and Leszek Pawlowicz. The concept of the show is to bring together "the best of the best" game show winners of the past. Too bad they didn't bring together "the best of the best" question writers - or, at least, PROOFREADERS.
Erin busts her English teacher
Erin writes in with:
Dear old Mrs. L was upset because everyone was particularly glazed over and spacey that morning. So, as punishment the assignment was to write a paragraph on what we'd like to be doing rather than English in less than two minutes.
The teacher added an apostrophe to "CDs".
Spurriers a cock??!!
Kimberly writes:
I took this photo with my camera phone at the University of South Carolina vs. University of Georgia football game a couple of weeks ago. The mascot for South Carolina is the Gamecocks....
We lost the game, probably because of poor grammar.
(for those of you wonder who or what "Spurrier" refers to, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Spurrier)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
