Make Mine a Double

Merry found a double apostrophe catastrophe in Allston on voting day.


Well, I suppose apostrophe catastrophe isn't quite accurate since the sign is missing a comma and an exclamation point, but you know what I mean. Merry and I agree that the sign should say, "Speak Up, Allston! Vote!"

Thanks, Merry!

PowerPoint Catastrophe

Krys found several apostrophe catastrophes in the PowerPoint presentation during a seminar on Behavior Management in an Elementary School Setting. She writes, "I needed a reinforcer to keep me from raising my hand to point out the errors."

Here's an example of a particularly terrible PowerPoint slide:


In addition to the apostrophe catastrophe in the title, the bulleted list is completely inconsistent and doesn't make all that much sense.

Thanks, Krys!

Another Permanent Catastrophe

Rick Reilly's latest column focuses on athletes who have bad tattoos. Laser tattoo removal is painful and expensive, so if you're going to get inked, you'd better make sure the message is grammatically correct. There's not much room on Penn State tight end Andrew Quarless' arm to add the missing apostrophe, so he's got a catastrophe for life.


"Quarless may be God's gift to football, but not to punctuation," Reilly writes. "It lacks an apostrophe, to say nothing of humility."

Thanks to my friend Bayard for sending Reilly's column my way! And thanks to Rick Reilly for the entertaining read.

Pink Panther Catastrophe

Charles managed to find an apostrophe catastrophe in a classic Pink Panther episode.


"He looks aghast at the catastrophe," writes Charles.

The apostrophe in ladies seems to have migrated down.

Ugh, now I have the Pink Panther theme song stuck in my head.

Thanks, Charles!

Dumb Cleveland Browns Fan

Melinda found this photo of a grammatically incorrect sign in a Yahoo story about Cleveland Browns fans:


That guy ought to say he's sorry for making a catastrophic sign.

Thanks, Melinda!

Cutting Crew

Meghan, who spotted this apostrophe catastrophe at Hobby Lobby, deemed it "painful."


I would have to agree. Someone ought to use the cutter's to cut out the catastrophe from that sign.

Thanks, Meghan!

Infiltrate the Dancefloor

If there's one thing I love more than proper punctuation, it's gay men. So one of my favorite concepts is Guerrilla Queer Bar. You see, I like the dance, but I don't like the kind of straight men who go out dancing in Boston. So, GQB is perfect for me because I get to dance with a lot of hot men and not worry that any of them are going to roofie me.

This month's GQB was at Tequila Rain and featured dancing to "Bad Romance" and an apostrophe catastrophe on the bathroom sign.


Shout out to all my mens! I love you guys!

Putting the Ass Back in Assembly

Delphine from Lancaster, Penn., writes, "We have a lot of churches around here who tell us what to do and how to behave. But the Lord didn't teach them how to spell...."


Committing an apostrophe catastrophe is a mortal sin, as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks, Delphine!

Apostrophe Catastrophes Make Donkeys Sad

Chris found this sign at Grease Wood Flat in Arizona:


"Even the donkey seems upset by the sign," Chris writes.

Poor donkey...

Thanks, Chris!

Learn to Share, Girl!

David writes, "This public toilet at Monocacy Park apparently belongs to a particular girl and no one else can use it."


How could she be so selfish?

Thanks, David!

Spooky Scary Catastrophe

Happy Halloween, readers! I hope you all have exciting plans for debauchery this evening. If you're in Boston, I would suggest avoiding the place that ran the following ad in the Improper Bostonian, for obvious reasons.


I consulted with my friend Louisa on this one to make sure it wasn't referring to "The Jock's Halloween Party," but we concluded that "The Jock" is not pictured in the ad. I think it would be kind of hard to be an athlete with that much silicone in your chest.

Trick or treat!

Victory at the Boston Garden

As you may have seen in this entry from last December, the bathrooms at the Boston Garden were riddled with apostrophe catastrophes. But last night, as I ran past the concession stands to make it to my seat in time for tip-off, I noticed that they had fixed the punctuation errors!

Before:

After:

Congrats to the TD Garden on a rare apostrophe success -- and to the Celtics on their trouncing of the Bulls.

Boy's, Boy's, Boy's

Lady Gaga would not approve of this sign because she knows that one boy is never enough.


Thanks to Brian for sending in this apostrophe catastrophe that he found at an amusement park.

Happy Halloween to all my readers! If any of you dress as a punctuation mark for Halloween, be sure to take a photo and send it to me.

Teach Your Children Well

Melissa from Utah wrote that her younger brother found this apostrophe catastrophe at his school:


Shortly thereafter, Melissa's mom found an apostrophe catastrophe at a salon in town that is owned by someone who graduated from the high school where the filing-cabinet catastrophe was spotted.



Melissa concludes that it's not entirely the salon owner's fault because she was never taught proper punctuation. I would have to agree.

Thanks, Melissa and Melissa's mom and brother!

Work Menu Catastrophe

A friend of mine who prefers to remain nameless has been annoyed by the apostrophe catastrophes on the menus at her office for months now. I'm sure she's not the only one who is annoyed because she works at a publishing company! She writes, "A building full of editors and copyeditors and proofreaders and no one lets them know there's no apostrophe in omelets?!"


They also spell "swordfish" wrong. And why is "A" capitalized in left side?

Thanks, mystery person!