Bed's, Bed's, Frame's

Paula, who is helping her young son avoid apostrophe catastrophes, sent me this photo of a truck that she spotted at the corner of Wilkens Ave and Brunswick Street in Baltimore:


She writes, "I love the friendly message to fellow motorists, and then the accretion of crappy signage on top. Baltimore is Baltimore."

The random ellipses also add to the punctuation mess. And why does it say "bed's" twice?

Check out Paula's blogs here and here.

More Vacation Apostrophe Catastrophes

Looks like Las Vegas isn't the only Memorial Day destination riddled with punctuation problems. My friend Michelle, who provided the hilarious "lost poddle" flier, recently saw this sign at the Space Needle:


and this neon sign in a Vancouver window:


It's a little difficult to read, but the sign says "PASSPORT PHOTO'S." I am cringing.

Poorly Punctuated Prostitution Posters

If you walk along the Las Vegas Strip, you'll be subjected to a barrage of ads for strippers, masseuses, and escorts. They say Vegas is more family-friendly these days, but don't let your kids look down as you're walking on Las Vegas Blvd. because there's essentially free porn lying everywhere. I'm not offended by the X-rated cards and fliers that are strewn on the sidewalk, but I was appalled by the semicolon on this advertisement:


Besides being in a cab with a driver who had never heard of Elvis, seeing a drunk dude in New York New York get knocked out by security, and watching a giant-breasted chick in stripper heels fall on her butt outside the Mirage, this semi-colon was the most shocking part of my stay in Sin City.

Laundromat Jackpot

I'm going away tomorrow, so I have to do laundry. Luckily, there are laundry facilities in the basement of my apartment. My landlords were even kind enough to put up this helpful sign:


English isn't their first language, so I won't rag on them too much for the apostrophe catastrophe.

I didn't have enough quarters, so I decided to stop at a laundromat on my way home to get change. Clearly, someone forgot to press the shift key when making this sign:


Good thing I wasn't planning on staying very long!

Someone tried to fix this horrendous sign, but he/she forgot the apostrophe:


Oh, check it out! If you bring some guys named Matt, you can wash them here!


And, finally, we have unnecessary quotation marks:


I feel like I hit the jackpot in this laundromat! Let's hope my luck continues in Vegas.

Memorial's Day Sale

My friend Carrie's boyfriend, Rich, got an e-mail from www.mertiline.com even though he's never purchased anything from them before. The e-mail said you could get 10 percent off for Memorial's Day.

Here's an image that's posted on their site:


Lord help us.

Dave & Buster's Suck's

My friend Merry, who also noticed the missing apostrophe in the sign for Charlie's Kitchen sent me this screenshot from the Web site of Dave & Buster's:


Check out the ad for gift cards on the left side of the page. Appalling! But I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a place Bret Michaels visited on Rock of Love 2 is stupid.

The nearest Dave & Buster's is in Providence. I might have to drive down there and protest.

Show Me the Hyphen!

Missouri's nickname is the Show-Me State. But its new license plates are missing the hyphen! According to this article, some residents are showing their dismay.

A spokesman for Missouri says that the error will not be corrected because the hyphen wasn't there when voters chose this design:

Perhaps the state's reputation will be repaired if Missourian David Cook is crowned American Idol this week.

Time to Stock Up!

This sign has been posted at my local Hess station for the past month or so:


I'm so tempted to walk in there with a 20-ounce soda and hand them a penny and then ask for change.

My favourite park's are car park's.

Why do people think that it is necessary to add an apostrophe before an "s" to make a word plural? Why?!?! Alan from Essex, England, sent me this photo that he took at the Rayleigh Rail Station:


Alan, who works as a taxi driver, told me that he was so disgusted by the sign that he sent a letter of complaint to the company that owns the car park. He even used the phrase "apostrophe catastrophe" in his letter! Way to go, Alan! The world needs more upstanding citizens like you.

No Hiatus for Bad Punctuation in L.A.

My friend Tiffany (a.k.a. Tiffers) sent me this sign that was posted all over the TV studio where she works:


The errant apostrophe in the middle of the word "hours" is the most glaring mistake here, but there's also some random capitalization and lack of periods going on. I asked Tiffers if Hiatus is the name of the TV show that's being shot at her studio. If not, that part doesn't really make sense either.

What does the salad own?

The Cupcake Cafe has gorgeous and delicious cupcakes, so I was disappointed to see that its chalkboard contained an apostrophe catastrophe.


But look how cute those cupcakes with legs are! I forgive you, Cupcake Cafe.

I have posted examples of apostrophe catastrophes and other punctuation errors from New York, Bermuda, and various other locations, so I'm changing the subhead of my blog from Boston's Worst Punctuation to The World's Worst Punctuation. We're going global! I'm a jet-setter thanks to Google Adsense. (Kidding!)

Mothers Day, Mother's Day, or Mothers' Day?

My brother and my dad cooked a delicious Mother's Day dinner last night. The top of the menu for the event read Mothers' Day. It's a holiday for all mothers, right? While the men in my family were grammatically correct, they were not historically accurate. According to this article from the Vancouver Sun, Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day, insisted that the apostrophe in the holiday's name be placed between the "r" and the "s," indicating a singular possessive, "for each family to honour their mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world." But, in this day and age, where non-traditional and blended families abound, I think it makes more sense for the holiday to refer to more than one mother. Thoughts? Incidentally, my mother is the best.

How do these people get jobs?

Remember the horrendous fax that my friend Carrie received a few weeks back? This sign that was posted on the fridge in her office is even worse:


Among the many problems with this sign: wan't?!? Now I've seen it all.

Incidentally, Carrie recently started a blog about customer service. Check it out!

Call the Apostrophe Police!

This sign from the Boston Police Department, which features an apostrophe catastrophe, made me so mad that I almost lit a cigarette as a protest. And I don't even smoke!


Perhaps I'll call the Hackney Carriage Unit to complain that the police don't know how to use proper punctuation.

Everett, it's a comma, people!

Certain punctuation errors are very common. People often put an apostrophe before an "s" to make a plural, and unnecessary quotation marks are everywhere. But, every once in a while, I see punctuation mistakes that are truly bizarre. BostonCoach vans, which circle around South Station all day, have an apostrophe where a comma should be. See the bottom right of this photo:



There must be something in the water in Everett because alert reader Cindy recently sent me a photo of a beauty salon on Route 99 that uses a dash where a comma should be.