Let's Try This Again

Not everyone agreed that the quotation marks in Happy "4th" were unnecessary, but here are two examples of bad punctuation from Block Island that definitely qualify as catastrophes:


If only I had known about that place when I was 19!


They'll make you pay in sexual favors.

OK, enough with the quotation mark digression. Back to apostrophes tomorrow.

I Have a Horrible Confession to Make

Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned. I went to Walmart on Sunday. Immediately upon entering the store, I started feeling queasy. My friend Mollie turned to me and said, "I feel like I'm going to throw up." It must have been something in the air. And that was before I checked my e-mail and found this apostrophe catastrophe that Jennifer sent in from the Huntsville, Alabama, Walmart:


Two Father's Day-related apostrophe catastrophes from Walmart? What are the odds? Pretty high, I suppose.

I feel so guilty. But their prices are so cheap...

Thanks, Jennifer!

This Is Making Me Hungry

I was excited to receive an apostrophe catastrophe from Thermopolis, Wyoming, where my family and I spent the 4th of July in 1996. The hot springs were amazing! Charles was there recently to meet the officiant for his wedding. He writes, "Here's a snap of the menu at Pumpernick's Family Restaurant in Thermopolis, Wyoming. Finding the apostrophe catastrophes is a game to keep you occupied while you wait for the waitress. (Luckily, the service was speedy.)"


The food sounds good, but I counted three apostrophe catastrophes in about five seconds.

Thanks, Charles!

Good Times Never Seemed So Good

This sign in the Kenmore T station in Boston would have made sense if the fireworks had been postponed until the 5th of July, I suppose.


But finally, after almost a month straight of monsoon conditions, the rain stopped, and Boston was able to hold its famous fireworks display, complete with a performance by Neil Diamond.

Freedom's light burning warm

This blog specializes in apostrophe errors, obviously, but if you want to double your fun, check out the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks.

More from Tom Jones' Homeland

Apparently, it's not unusual to find apostrophe catastrophes in Wales. (Sorry.) Here's another punctuation error from the man who sent us the most bizarre way to screw up your ever.



Thanks, Andrew!

I Would Never Be Able to Sleep There

Driving on the highway yesterday, I noticed a sign for Americas Best Value Inn.


That is not an apostrophe catastrophe, folks. This budget hotel chain made the conscious decision to leave the apostrophe out of its name because apostrophes can't be included in URLs. So what? We've known that for years! Just because your web site address can't use proper punctuation doesn't mean your entire business should suffer!

I am officially boycotting Americas Best Value Inn. Also on my list of boycotted companies is Bank of America, but that's a whole other story.

Michael Jackson Catastrophe

Well, it was difficult to get anything accomplished today since the whole world was talking about Michael Jackson -- except for this hippie woman whom I witnessed hearing the news for the first time in Dunkin' Donuts at noon. Clearly, this woman doesn't own a TV, or even a radio. Speaking of the radio, I went to the Web site of Boston's top 40 station, Kiss 108, to see what the morning show folks had to say about the issue. Much to my chagrin, I found an apostrophe catastrophe on Matty in the Morning's homepage.


Why does Lisa's Fashion Tips get an apostrophe but Billy's entertainment report doesn't? Poor Billy. They always make fun of him on the air, and they can't even get the punctuation in his name right.

But I'll keep listening because you guys make me laugh every morning.

Macy's: A Repeat Offender

A grammatically incorrect t-shirt at Macy's inspired me to start this blog in the first place. And now the department store chain has provided some juicy blog fodder again. Lorraine, who was visiting New York City from Scotland, took this photo in the flagship store:


The Macy's in Herald Square is the world's largest store. How can they let an apostrophe catastrophe hang from the ceiling?

Thanks, Lorraine!

I Don't Approve of Their Punctuation

As if I need another way to waste time on the Internet, Kate told me that she found the following apostrophe catastrophe using Google StreetView.


It's a little hard to see, but this car dealership added an errant apostrophe in the plural of Audi.

Thanks, Kate!

Keep those contributions coming, readers. Oh, and if you want to promote your own site, check out my new Scratchback widget on the right side of the page.

This Is Pretty Tacky, Even for Wal-Mart

Melissa sent in this sign from her local Wal-Mart:


She says that she thinks the sign writer wasn't sure about any of the apostrophes, so she placed three of them tentatively. Well, two out of three ain't bad!

Thanks, Melissa! And Happy (belated) Father's Day to all the fathers out there, especially mine.

Punctuation on Spin Cycle

My friend/former co-worker sent this a photo of a sign from a laundromat near his brother's apartment in Somerville:


He writes, "It looks like someone tried to edit it already. Was that you?"

Nope, it wasn't me, but I'm glad to see that there are other punctuation vigilantes in the Ville.

Thanks to Will for finding this extremely rare double-semicolon-and-comma catastrophe!

A Farmers' Market for Farmer's?

FilmFather sent me an ad from the Wilmington News Journal that features an apostrophe catastrophe in the headline.


The word farmers in "Support Delaware Farmers" is plural, not possessive, so it shouldn't have an apostrophe in it. But should the phrase farmers market? The answer to that question is not so simple. According to Grammar Girl's discussion on this topic, the AP does not use an apostrophe in farmers market, while the Chicago Manual of Style does.

What do you think?

Thanks, Eric!

A New Way to Screw Up

Andrew found an especially unusual apostrophe catastrophe in South Wales.


I'll bet the sign makers had a conversation that went something like this:
Bloke 1: "Should it be your or you're?"
Bloke 2: "I'm not sure. Let's use a combination of the two to be safe."

Geniuses!

Thanks, Andrew!

Does Your Dad Rock?

The third Sunday in June is called Father's Day, but if you're talking about several dads, leave out that apostrophe. Newbury Comics screwed this up in their e-newsletter.


Also, are they saying that the gifts are for rockin' dads or that the gifts themselves rock? If it's the former, the e-mail should say "gifts for dads who rock." It annoys me no end when speakers and writers refer to people using the pronoun that.

Swine Flu Symptoms

I think someone with the swine flu came by and added apostrophes all over these signs.


He or she must have been delirious with fever. Losing the ability to punctuate is the scariest symptom of swine flu I've heard. Pass the hand sanitizer!

[Photo taken on Front Street in Hamilton, Bermuda]