GrammarBlog

Wednesday, 26 December 2007

Grammar Abuse in Signage – Xmas Special

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I don't know about you but I'm full; I mean really full. And I'm drunk; I mean really drunk. I've been this way for two days now and I'm not looking forward to the aftermath. The ancient Romans used to gorge themselves like this every week, can you imagine? Of course they had the added fun of bisexual orgies and recreational bulimia to keep the appetite up and to add an extra level of entertainment. There has been no puking or "breaking in" of house-boys so far but I had a good haul of presents this year and so I can't really complain.

In a way, we should thank the Romans for our annual excuse to eat and drink too much. If they hadn't got uppity with a certain beardy upstart and seen fit to nail him to a cross we would have never had cause to celebrate his birth.

Still, I'll never forgive them for crucifying Santa.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, dear readers, for the support since GrammarBlog launched only 8 months ago. We're planning a few changes in the near future, all for your benefit, and I hope you will continue to enjoy reading the blog as much as we enjoy writing it. A special thank you goes out to all those who have contributed and commented, please continue to do so.

Before I have to get back to drunkenly rowing with relatives and falling asleep in front of Indiana Jones I have just enough time to present to you the entries for our Grammar Abuse in Signage Xmas special. (I really regret using 'Xmas'. I was kind of joking when I did so but every time I write it, a part of my soul dies – which is less than ideal.)

So without further ado, here they are – starting with the winning entry.

The fabulously monikered Garrett Coakley sent this in and writes, "This is the pub across the road from my flat on the London Road in Oxford. Depressingly this is the same sign from last year and they still haven't noticed. The place is a bit of a hole anyway, you can guarantee there will be a fight outside every Friday and Saturday evening."

Garrett receives 100 shiny Xmas GrammarBlog points for his submission. They're in the post.

Here are the best of the rest:

This was submitted by Julie but spotted by her son, aged eight. Julie did not say whether or not the boy had his photo "took" with Santa.

Sent in by Daniel. Quotation marks for emphasis should get you added to the naughty list. I also like the way the alphabet theme is abandoned at XYZ.

Alden spotted this at his local grocery store.

Oops, lookes like the marketing department at Home Depot was in a bit of a hurry to get this marketing email out.

From Francis.

From Martin in Glasgow.

The Smiths' what?

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Labels: signage, Xmas

posted by Gez at 10:10 am 4 Comments

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Friday, 21 December 2007

I woder how things like this are allowed to happen

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This was taken outside The Cornerhouse, an arthouse cinema adjacent to Manchester’s Oxford Road railway station:

If it was my job to slot letters on to marquee signs like this one I’d collect all the letters I need before ascending the ladder, and then check I’d used them all before storing the ladder away. Whatever happened to that ‘N’? Perhaps the member of staff pocketed it and sold it as a 'Z' to a rival cinema, pulling the wool over everybody's eyes in the process.

It makes the absence of the apostrophe seem almost trivial.

Labels: apostrophe abuse, cinema, signage, spelling, Xmas

posted by Paddy at 4:24 pm 4 Comments

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Friday, 16 November 2007

An 'Xmas' appeal from GrammarBlog

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As Christmas approaches and companies feverishly push their wares on increasingly maniacal consumers, there is an inevitable rash of hastily produced temporary signs and banners. Many of these will undoubtedly contain a plethora of errors for us all to chortle at. Those of you who regularly read this blog will know that the abuse of grammar in signage is one of our favourite topics and I would like to ask you all to help us out as we approach the holiday season by keeping your eyes peeled and your cameras to hand.

If you see a Christmas sign with spelling, punctuation or grammar errors, take a photo and send it into the usual address – grammarblog[at]googlemail[dot]com. Please include your name and the location of the sign in question.

Common errors to look out for include the following: basic spelling errors; overuse of quotation, exclamation and question marks; RaNdoM cAPs; meaningless marketing gibberish and, of course, apostrophe abuse. Bonus GrammarBlog points will be awarded for multiple offences and typographical atrocities. All contributions will be gratefully received and a bumper, special, Christmas edition of Grammar Abuse in Signage will be published on December 25th (or thereabouts).

London based readers might like to know that we have had an unconfirmed tip-off about a sign on Kennington Lane which reads, “X-Mass Booking's Now Being Taken”. Apparently it can be found at the Vauxhall end of the road, near “the bus stop”.

Fly my pretties, I know you will all make me proud.

**UPDATE**
Digg users, show your support here.

Labels: christmas, GrammarBlog appeal, signage, Xmas

posted by Gez at 2:17 pm 2 Comments

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