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Saturday, April 6, 2013

Wordworking: F is for Full Stop




I'd tried plenty of grammar books, but it wasn't until the amazing Lynne Truss--and her Apostrophe Protection Society--that my desire to improve my grammar came full force. 

Lynn is funny, she's smart, and she's the one that introduced me to the full stop. It sounds so much nicer than a period: something that instead reminds me of my menstrual cycle. (sorry male visitors, if that made you uncomfortable).


In honor of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, today I'm sharing  a sign I drive by almost every single day. As if the color scheme wasn't offensive enough, I also have to endure the poor grammar.






That sign makes me wish I had Lynne's spunk and could grab my own sharpie to fix this apostrophe catastrophe. 
(In case you're wondering what is wrong with this picture, besides not capitalizing the word cuts, the business thought that to make cuts plural, it needed an apostrophe. We know apostrophes show possession or the omission of one or two letter  and are not needed in this sign)
Do you have notice grammatically incorrect signs in your town? Are you ever tempted to get out a giant sharpie yourself? What are your favorite differences between American and English grammar? Does the our  instead of or confuse you sometimes? Or do you ever forget if it's gray or grey?

Write On:D 

18 comments:

  1. You may have lost a few men on the period comment, but you made a lot of us women laugh! :)

    I haven't seen any wrong signs, or I wasn't paying attention. I'm sure they're out there.

    I'll second that recommendation on Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

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  2. I feel fortunate that I know most rules of grammar although I do sometimes forget to insert commas in the appropriate place. (like, shouldn't there be a comma after grammar?) And grey is correct; it's just the British spelling, like theatre or colour. For some reason I learned grey instead of gray so still spell it that way but my spell check doesn't like it ;)

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  3. Maybe, it's supposed to say "Marine Hair Cutlass" but "cutlass" wouldn't fit?

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  4. As a teacher, I get emails from others in the profession and lots of parents. It's so difficult not to correct it and send it back.

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  5. Even if that apostrophe was needed, isn't it in reverse? Haha.

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  6. a funny grammar book? yes it seems to be a new fad. How many incorrect uses of apostrophe can a paper, magazine or sign printer make

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  7. I've totally seen stuff like that! I just laugh because I've done it too!

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  8. I love that book—and your post!

    I always want to fix the grammar and punctuation on signs, but so far I haven't had the guts. :)

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  9. Oh yeah, I've seen signs like that one up. Drives me nutty! I wouldn't say I get confused on the words, but there are ones that I opt for the Brit spelling on. I'm trying to think of an example, because I had to look something up recently, but I can't remember the words! It was something where either was considered correct, as long as you remained consistent.

    Shannon at The Warrior Muse

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  10. I can't think of one off the top of my head, but yep, those kind of mistakes drive me bonkers. I'm no grammatical queen, but mistakes like that on GIANT billboards? Tough to swallow :)

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  11. Too funny! I think I may need that book sometimes....

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  12. Too funny! I think I may need that book sometimes....

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  13. Eats, Shoots & Leaves is great. I teach 6th grade English, so I'm always battling bad grammar.

    Great theme for the Challenge.

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  14. I love that book. Last year I was lucky enough to meet Lynne Truss after a performance of her monologues. She's as entertaining in real life as she is in print.

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  15. I think it gets worse as your editing your work. I find myself noticing things like that all the time now.
    http://www.melanieschulz.blogspot.com

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  16. I see things around here, in the paper, online, just everywhere. I'm not perfect, but it's amazing no one caught the goof on the sign. New follower! Thanks for finding my blog today!

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  17. lol apostrophe catastrophe. love it! Oh man I hate it when I see errors like these. I mean, really?? They didn't have someone check this out first. lol

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