This sign. I drive by it every week, and each time I feel as if it's mocking me. Other signs on this scrolling marquee advertise plural things, too, but only this noun has the errant apostrophe, not Fridays, not Games, not Events, not Nights.
I wish they'd change Tuesday to Chili Night.
My pet peeve is no punctuation or capitalization of letters where they should be. Too much punctuation or in the wrong place, I can live with. But run-on sentences that can be read several ways drive me nuts. 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' or 'Eats Shoots and Leaves'---love that book.
ReplyDeleteJean--It all drives me crazy. All of it. Especially when there is The Internet so close at hand to check for correctness. All anyone has to do IS CARE.
DeleteI love that book, too.
Oh man. And strangely, I now crave tacos. And I don’t even like them!
ReplyDeleteBug--Sigh.
DeleteYou make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteMeredith--I'm always here.
DeleteBut then you just know it would be "Chilli" or even worse "Chilly" night!
ReplyDeleteGina--I thought of that. The British spelling is Chilli. I could almost manage that. But I had forgotten about the possibility of Chilly. AAARRRGGGHHH.
DeleteIt boggles the mind..why just the one? Why only taco's? And why does my stupid spellcheck all to often insert apostrophes where they do not belong? It makes me mad that I have to go back and fix it SO OFTEN.
ReplyDeleteJ@jj--I know. I wonder if it is because it ends in "O". But what a stupid internal rule to all of a sudden have, or follow.
DeleteI turned off spellcheck. It is far stupider than I am. And does not know All The Words.
Many years ago (early 90s) I drove past a farm stand on my way to work each day. Every year in October, they would drag out an old sign emblazoned with a single word: "PUMPKIN'S." And every day, until the end of November, for a long, painful 6-8 weeks, I would drive, twice a day, past that abomination. I had fantasies about stopping and saying something to them, but I realised it would have been in vain. We moved away in 2000, but I imagine that sign is still there. I can say with complete sincerity that, growing up, it *never* occurred to me to add apostrophes in any plurals for any reason - unless a possessive was involved. I still don't understand why or how this mixup happens. I could see it in a more-complicated plural possessive, like 'farmers' pumpkins' or 'children's pumpkins'. But how hard is it to say to yourself, "I have one pumpkin. Now I have more than one pumpkin. So I shall add an 's' onto the end of my one pumpkin to show that there are now more than one." It's almost as if people don't think tacking an s onto the end of the word is complicated enough. Sort of like the hypercorrection people use when they say things like, 'The CEO had a meeting with he and I' because they think 'him and me' doesn't sound right. *steps off soapbox, concludes preaching to choir.*
ReplyDeleteMsCaroline--I feel the pain in your words, and I sympathize, as you know.
DeleteWhat so many people fail to realize is that this is a real pain. It's not us just carping and being annoyed. It's like a person mispronouncing your name at work every single day. Or stubbing your toe every single day. Or having a paper cut and getting salt in it every single day. Or having an eyelash that you cannot get out of your eye. It's that hurtful for us.
And you're right; part of the reason is that we simply cannot understand WHY IT IS SO DAMN HARD. Or why the signmaker did not bother to check for correctness. It's unfathomable.
Maybe, just maybe, I will call that establishment tomorrow and finally tell them about that effing sign. Nicely. Not that they will care.
LMAO
ReplyDelete