its coming

Anna writes:

I saw this in a building at Mississippi State on my way to class. It made me giggle so much I had to stop and take a picture. I still have no idea what it was supposed to be advertising.

Love, love, love the note.

Diabetic Sock's

Jesse spotted this sign in Bristol, PA:

Eskimo's on Ski's

Josh writes:

This sweatshirt has two violations. This example is all the more egregious because the event was organized by the schools.

Philadelphia Style Hoagie's

Anonymous writes:

The Hoagie Hut is a little restaurant in Malletts Bay in Colchester, VT (I do not know the origin of the name, but there is no apostrophe at all in Malletts). I had to snap this quickly, as the owners are known for their...opinionated nature and I am sure it would be their opinion that no one should be taking a photo of their storefront.

Publix Shaming: Secretarie's Day

Meredith spotted (and was saddened by) this sign at a Publix in Columbia, South Carolina:

Happy Administrative Professional's Day

(Thanks, Kate!)

A is for Apostrophe

Aaron sent in this scan

...from the book Little Einsteins Animal Alphabet that my daughter got for her birthday. This part of the book has not just one, but two apostrophe mistakes!

Adelaide Internet Caf'e

Adam writes:

In Newcastle upon Tyne UK there's a particularly egregious example of apostrophe abuse that I've been meaning to capture on camera for some time. Unfortunately, it's in a rather unsavoury part of the city and not somewhere it's particularly advisable to start waving a digital camera around (especially if it entails explaining why you're taking a photo of someone's business).

Rather than taking the picture himself, Adam points us all to the helpful folks at Google Maps, where the sign is visible via Street View:


It appears that the accent mark slid off the E in CAFÉ and ended up as an apostrophe.

Gifts 4 All Occassion's

Heather sent in this sign she spotted in Arlington, VA:

Smoker's... Put Your Butt's Here

(Thanks, Amanda!)

Rain Poncho's and Umbrella's

Greg writes:

I found this sign at the Blarney Castle gift shop near Cork, Ireland. Kissing the Blarney Stone is supposed to give one the "gift of gab", but apparently not necessarily that of spelling.

To The Parent('s) of

Rhonda spotted this on a piece of mail from her child's school district:

Thorn's have rose's

Danielle writes:

This lovely tattoo belongs to a friend of a friend. "Thorn's have rose's". No one noticed it before I pointed it out! This tattoo infuriates me beyond belief. How could you get something permanently written on your body without making sure it was spelled correctly first? It kills me. The girl still doesn't know that it's spelled wrong.

She may now!

A 12-Step Program for Apostrophe Abusers

Lauren, a copywriter from Vancouver, sent in a proposal for a 12-step program for apostrophe abusers:

12-step programme: stop killing the apostrophe
A frantic, last-ditch attempt to right the world’s worst grammatical ill with enforced therapy.

She even created an instructional cartoon, à la Bob the Angry Flower:

Lets Party

Andy sent in this photo of a store in San Luis Obispo, CA, and commented:

This little goodie has been bugging me for a solid two years now. Everything about that sign is downright awful.

Please Use the Hand Dryer's

Rob, near Manchester, England, writes that someone had already attempted to correct this sign

...by sticking a bit of paper over the offending apostrophe; unfortunately it just drew attention to it.

Also, the name of the store is at the top of the sign is Booth's, but the sign over the front door says "BOOTHS".

Once you spot one, you spot more ... inside the attached cafe, we had both "baked potato's" and "baked potatoe's", "sachet's of sauce", "customer's beware of fan" and several more spelling mistakes.

Presumably the same person does all the signs.

2 Large Cheese Pizza's

Evan pulled his car around to snap this photo of a pizza joint:

If you we're a really good Customer!

Dennis writes:

I saw this sign in Waldo's Barbecue in Gilbert, Arizona. Waldo's has signs all over the restaurant that include quips and insults, part of the restaurant's atmosphere.

The poor sentence: it had a rough start with multiple subjects, and it isn't redeemed by excessive punctuation.

(Sorry that the photo quality isn't a little better. There's sawdust on the floor that conveniently reduces friction and made me apprehensive about getting up to take a photo.)

Corrective Canadians: Large Feild Tomato's

Lauren writes:

This orthographic disgrace happened in the fall in Winnipeg, Canada. After talking with employees at this Italian food mart who assured me the sign would get changed since "feild tomato's" don't exist, I was reassured. Days later, the sign still stood. Some friends decided to don the masks of "grammar police" and fix these terrible mistakes. Look closely - our new letters are made from a cereal box.