Doctor's Office Catastrophe

Clare sent in this horrifyingly bad sign that she spotted at her pediatrician's office.


Regardless of your political views, I think we can all agree that this sign is in need of health care reform. The bad grammar and horrendous clip art might actually give someone a heart attack.

Thanks, Clare!

P.S. Apostrophe Catastrophes has had a facebook group for a while, but now we have a page. Not sure what the difference is, but you should like us and/or join the group.

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!

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.

An Entire Week Dedicated to One Person

McCormick & Schmick's seem to think that this week is dedicated to just one administrative professional.


According to the International Association of Administrative Professionals, Administrative Professionals Week should be written without an apostrophe. It's also wrong to refer to one person as "they."

Thanks to Nancy for forwarding me this gramatically incorrect promotional e-mail.

Unstoppably Bad Grammar

My friend/former co-worker Fiona sent me a link from one of the most poorly written web sites I've ever seen. Are you ready to be horrified?


Two apostrophe catastrophes (three if you count "TV's" as a catastrophe -- depends on your style guide), random capitalization, subject verb disagreement, spacing problems, a spelling mistake, no periods, missing hyphens, run-on sentences ... this web site has it all. My brain hurts.

Thanks, Fiona! Way to carpe diem! (She's a Latin teacher.)

There's Only One Oprah

Facebook ads tend to be poorly written, but this one struck me as especially bad:


Besides, would you trust a diet that's been endorsed by someone whose weight fluctuates more than the stock market?

Punctuation for Decorative Purposes Only

My friend Tiffers sent another bizarre punctuation error from the City of Angels. Actually, this one is from Catalina Island:


In case you can't read it, the bottom of the sign says, "This Pictures Do Not Apply To Our Restaurant Drink's Menu / Those are for Decoration Purposes Only"

Clearly, someone drank too much tequila, a word which Tiff says was also misspelled on the restaurant's menu, before writing this sign.

The reader's what doesn't work?

Amanda and her husband found this apostrophe catastrophe at a gas station in in Tuscaloosa, Alabama:


So many mistakes are packed into such a small sign. Thanks for sending, Amanda!

Panic on the Streets of Boston

The Celtics won the NBA championship last night, and there was chaos on the streets of Boston. Riot police scare me, but things stayed relatively tame. However, this T-shirt, which my friend Dave found on the NBA store site, is worth rioting over:


In case you can't read the small print on the front of the shirt, it says "Where Raising 17 Banners Happen." I know that T-shirt companies often have to print championship apparel in a hurry, but that subject-verb disagreement is unforgivable. It's a shame because the T-shirt would be really cool if it weren't for that error!

Grammatical errors aside, I am thrilled for the Celtics. A truly classy group of guys destroyed the Lakers to win the team's 17th championship last night.