Marie, Tara & Marty submitted the following:
We spotted this sign outside a local carwash in Altoona, PA. We want them to clean up their punctuation!
Sara writes:
My husband took me to a quaint bed and breakfast in Michigan, but it was hard to relax because I was so distracted by all the apostrophe abuse!!
Rick writes:
This is the Activity Office at a local high school in the Minneapolis area. I'm surprised no English teachers have complained yet.
Joel submits:
I saw this sign at Tesco in Loudwater, Buckinghamshire today and thought it would amuse/horrify you, as it did me. If this represents the business community's grasp of grammar and punctuation, we're all doomed!
Seabrooke writes:
I came down with a cold this week, and in doing some research on just what the rate of sinus mucus production really is ('cause it seems to my poor nose like a quart a day), I stumbled across this seasonally-appropriate cartoon. Unless "Nose-Is-Running" is a new Native American-style name for the latest flu virus (probably the one I've caught!)...
Rob writes:
I snapped this one outside my local shopping centre in southeast London last night. The full message reads "Late-night shopping on Thursday's until 8" and scrolls continuously over the main entrance. You can see it from a good way away...
Lara writes:
The attached photo is of the readout at a Chevron station near the University of Texas campus. I noticed it a while back but only remembered to bring my camera with me this week.
Both of these are from Jeffrey in San Antonio:
First up... Breakfast Taco's!
Fairly new restaurant trying to attract new customers. Haven't tried the food, but I may visit to see if there are other apostrophes floating around.
Found this at a San Antonio Taco Bell. It is some contest where customers call a phone number to answer some survey questions, rating the "restaurant" from 1 to 7. If I called, it would get a 5.
Another example from Jorah...
...The Crip may have something to say about that.
This example of abuse comes from Jorah, who
found this one in south Charlotte, NC, around Thanksgiving:
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'"?
Sara in SD writes:
This was posted at the gas station I usually go to in North Sioux City, SD. Maybe they weren’t sure if it should be “your” or “you’re” so they combined the two. Do you think it stops people from driving off and not paying?
Suzie writes:
I was flipping through my archives last night and I stumbled upon a photo that I made my boyfriend take for me in a Chapters in Toronto one day because the sign just made me so mad being that I'm both a grammar nerd and a Harry Potter obsessive.
Here's a number of submissions that I've been sitting on for a while...
(Thanks to Shane, Lana, John, Jenni, and Maggie!)
Jen and Jon both sent in a snapshot of this email campaign from Home Depot:
Emily writes:
I found this in an info book at a motel I stayed in recently. The book listed all the video cassettes the motel had for hire. This is just one of pages upon pages of abuse - most of it your garden variety - utter lack of apostrophes in possessives, and too many in plurals (see for example #270 on the list).
"Getty'sburg", though, took the cake.
Alden writes:
Spotted this at my local grocery store. I think this particular store has one employee in charge of most of their signs -- it's consistent handwriting, and the signs frequently contain some deviation from standard English that makes me wince. In fact, I was so busy wincing over the "tree's" that it wasn't until I got home and uploaded this pic that I realized it was also "Christmass." Perhaps my anonymous sign-making friend is extra devout and wishes to remind us of the origins of this holiday?
Sarah writes:
Here [is a picture] of the school bus my kids ride each morning.
School Districts 47 and 155 are the elementary and high schools, respectively, in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
As far as I've seen, none of the other buses have the apostrophe. I've seen at least one that has a space between the t and s, indicating an apostrophe once was there. But I think this may be the only bus that (still) has one.
Liza writes:
From the Pearl, Mississippi, Christmas Parade. I doubt baby Jesus would appreciate this.
Anna writes:
I was so excited to finally find an example of AA to send in, but sad that it's from one of my favorite websites (shirt.woot.com, a spin-off from woot.com ). It does beg the question, though... octopus' WHAT, exactly, may be larger than it appears?
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