Wednesday, 15 October 2008
‘ParenT's’
We've hit the mother lode! Inappropriate capitalisation, misplaced apostrophes (of course) and quotation marks used for emphasis.
Note how increasingly wayward the single quotation marks get; by the end of the notice they're almost like brackets.
Labels: apostrophe abuse, quotation marks, randomised caps, signage, signs
posted by Gez at 4:43 pm
15 Comments
Monday, 16 June 2008
'Do you want salt and crazy grammar on the chips?'
I can't fault their heavenly chips or their wonderfully crisp battered cod, but what possessed them here? As if this scatterbrain punctuation wasn't enough, when I then slumped against the counter to recover my breath I was faced with this on the menu board:
The spelling. Why not just copy the word 'sausage' from the entry above? And yes, those really are "unnecessary quotation marks" encompassing the word 'batterd'. Perhaps my chipmonger was batterd on booze when he did it. It's the only rational explanation.
Labels: commas, quotation marks, spelling
posted by Paddy at 9:50 pm
10 Comments
Monday, 21 April 2008
"This" is "just" "ridiculous"
Our Twitter friend Laura K brought this to my attention.
Just for the record: it's never OK to use quotation marks for emphasis. Never ever. It's also your moral and legal obligation to slap those who do. In the face.
*Update*
There is another picture from the same establishment: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bblivit/2411339341.
Labels: quotation marks
posted by Gez at 9:03 pm
9 Comments
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
A day in the life of a GrammarBlogger
I've just had an MSN conversation with fellow GrammarBlogger Tom and I feel like sharing.
Tom: in this context, would you put 'yes' and 'no' in quotation marks:Yep, I know: we're sad.
Tom: It's a simple question and usually can be answered with a yes or no.
Gez: maybe
Gez: yes
Tom: right - Paul and Mike both concur here
Gez: that's ok. if it offends you stylistically, I don't think there is a problem leaving them out
Tom: hmm
Tom: that's a good point
Tom: I suppose it's essentially treating 'yes' and 'no' as nouns
Gez: says: no, you are quoting
Gez: says: eg say, "yes, Paul"
Gez: says: There is a case for it as they are not part of the sentence in that context. But don't lose sleep over it if you don't want them in.
Tom says: I think it's a fairly unique usage : the idea of a yes and a no as nouns - I don't think it works for other words
Tom: I'm going to leave them out
Gez: I works when ever you talk about words.
Gez: Pronounce the T in waiting
Tom: I disagree - in this instance I think 'yes' is a synonym for a nod
Gez: Tom puts the 'wit' in 'fuckwit'. Andy provides the 'fuck'.
Tom: yeah - but I think you need the speech marks there
Tom: you're clearly talking about the words themselves
Gez: really? same argument different case
Tom: rather than the concept of a yes
Gez: anyway
Tom: anyway
Labels: debate, punctuation, quotation marks
posted by Gez at 12:26 pm
31 Comments
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