Flushing Punctuation Down the Toilet

An anonymous reader sent me this badly punctuated and randomly capitalized sign from the bathroom at her workplace:


Ms. X wonders why the sign writer used an apostrophe in pads but not tampons and why certain words are capitalized for no reason. And finally, "Why put this sign above a box that is designed specifically for toilet paper and seat covers instead of on the flap to the garbage box?"

I guess we'll never know.

Thanks, anonymous woman in San Jose, California!

This Means They Don't Understand Apostrophes

Melinda sent me this sign from a salon in JCPenney:


I didn't even know that JCPenney had salons. You learn something new every day. And JCPenney need to learn how to use apostrophes correctly. "Mean's"?? That is horrifying.

Thanks, Melinda!

I Am Not GLAD About the Bad Punctuation in Press'n Seal

This delicious turkey leg came into my life wrapped in GLAD Press'n Seal.


Much like Guns N' Roses and Sweet 'N Low, Press'n Seal is missing the second apostrophe in the shortened form of and. But GLAD also forgot to put a space after Press. Are they trying to call the product "Press on Seal"? That would explain the missing apostrophe, but they'd still need a space before the n.

This apostrophe catastrophe did not, however, stop me from eating the turkey.

What the World Needs Now Is Semicolons

Semicolons are a dying breed of punctuation marks. But there's one person out there who still defends them and uses them properly: Barack Obama. I recently started reading Dreams from My Father, and have been very impressed with Obama's punctuation skills. The creator of this sign could take a lesson from our new president.


Some people say that a comma can separate two short sentences, but I think the sign looks sloppy and should use a semicolon instead. The comma doesn't indicate enough of a pause between the two statements. An em-dash might work, too.

Thanks (again!) to Merry for sending this one in.

This Ruined the View

A few months ago, a couple of friends and I made our way to the top floor of the Custom House to check out the view. But this sign kind of ruined it.


It's venues? Also, city shouldn't be capitalized.

Tourists, don't let this apostrophe catastrophe tarnish Boston's image. Some of us know how to use proper punctuation.

Double Catastrophe in Bali

Putu from Bali sent me this double apostrophe catastrophe:


"I think they intended to make a catastrophic mistake, but ended up worsening it," writes Putu.

I'm excited that I received a blog submission from 10,000 miles away! Thanks, Putu!

Apostrophe Crossword Puzzle

Today, I would like to present something that's not a catastrophe at all. In fact, it's quite impressive. Have you ever wished that you could find a crossword puzzle that contained apostrophes? Well, by George, we've got the puzzle for you! Really. It was created by a guy named George.

Click on the images below to make them larger.



E-mail me if you want these in a PDF format. Blogger won't let me post PDFs. I'll post the answers next week.

Thanks, George!

Delicious Italian Food — and an Apostrophe Catastrophe for My Birthday

OK, so I lied in yesterday's entry when I said that I wouldn't eat cake if it was on a grammatically incorrect menu. I did eat cake — after eating lots of delicious Italian food — despite this:


In my defense, the cake wasn't one of the special's. Plus, the food was so good that even the apostrophe catastrophe on the menu made me smile.

You Know Your Grammar Is Full of...

Welcome to new readers who are here by way of Red Pen, Inc. As the Grammarphile mentioned, today is my birthday. So, I might have to eat some cake tonight. But not if the menu is grammatically incorrect, like this:


Thanks to my friend/co-worker Amy who took that photo at The Breakfast Club in Allston.

An NFL Catastrophe

No, I'm not a Cardinals fan. In fact, I was happy with the outcome of the game last night because I won 50 bucks in my office pool. The catastrophe here comes from the NFL shop. A reader named Larry sent me this screenshot:


The top tab says "DVD's," while the side navigation (correctly) leaves out the apostrophe.

Thanks, Larry!

This Place's Punctuation Bites!

My friend Maura took this photo in a shop in Ireland called News Bites:


Apparently, the shop's punctuation ability bites, too.

Thanks, Maura!

Birmingham Bans Apostrophes

I just read some terrible news. Birmingham, England, is banning apostrophes on road signs to avoid confusion. This is a travesty! Lynne Truss, it time for you to take a trip to Brum to protest this terrible decision.

iPods and Fake GPS Receivers (?) in New York

Here's a photo that I took in New York a couple of months ago that features an apostrophe catastrophe and unnecessary quotation marks:


But the place looks a little shady, so maybe the quotation marks are necessary after all.

Also, since iPods and all the other items listed on this sign are plural, shouldn't GPS be plural to match? What is the plural of GPS anyway? GPSes looks a little awkward, and I definitely don't want to write GPS's. It seems that the only way around this is to write "GPS receivers," but that's pretty clunky.

Welcome to the State of Computed Tomography

When my friend Bayard texted me this photo from Greenwich, CT, I wrote back, "Because it doesn't have a comma?"


He pointed out that the abbreviation for Connecticut isn't "C.T." Right. I don't know how I missed that!

Thanks, Bayard!

Expensive Drinks, Bad Punctuation

I went to an art opening the other night at a boutique/bar/restaurant. Even more appalling than the $12 drinks was the bad punctuation on the customers [sic] copy of the receipt.


The art, on the other hand, was fantastic!

Thanks to my friend Jennifer for taking that photo. I need to stop forgetting to bring my camera.