After nearly driving off the road in a rage today when I spotted a heinous rogue apostrophe in a sign outside a BMW garage (BMW! I ask you. You'd think they could afford an editor, wouldn't you?), the idea for this blog was born. I'll be pointing out and posting errors in written English wherever I find them - and believe me, as a professional editor I find them ALL THE TIME. Every unchallenged errant apostrophe or occurrence of 'complimentary' instead of 'complementary' causes a small part of my brain to curl up and die, so I'm going to post them here in an effort to get the ranting out of my system.
There are other websites doing a similar thing, and all power to them, because the more of us there are the better. So I'm not going to let that get in the way of a good idea. By way of a kick-off, here's a photo of an amusement arcade in Derby, UK.
Pity poor Harry. Although he evidently has the highest paying slots in town,
he clearly doesn't make enough money to be able to afford a decent
proofreader.
Great idea! I'm looking forward to reading and being enlightened by these(seriously), unfortunately as a dyslexic you're going to have to explain the punch line....
ReplyDeleteHi Tracey! Lovely to hear from you.
DeleteIt should read Harry's Amusements - with an apostrophe. Good point - I'll start explaining the rules in future posts. It's all very well pointing and laughing (or wailing, in my case) - I should be doing my bit for education, too. ;-)
Brilliant idea! I see these all the time and can so relate to you nearly driving off the road in rage - I refuse to shop anywhere with signs in the window with errors on!
ReplyDeleteThis might motivate me to take pictures of them and send them to you!
Oh, do. I'm worried I might run out - but having said that, a trip to the cinema this afternoon yielded a couple of corkers. There are plenty out there, but more always welcome, and I know it'll give you as much joy as it does me!
DeleteThe funny thing is Harry's used to have the apostrophe in place,as can be seen on streetview, Although the whole of the morledge appears to have apostrophe issues.
ReplyDeleteAye - see next post re the "Noahs Ark" pub, just along the road. (There's also "Nads Takeaway" right next door to the amusements, but I find that just too disturbing to think about.)
DeleteWe did notice that Harry's has another notice with apostrophe in place just inside the door (not legible in the photo, unfortunately), so they get half a point for effort.
Nice to see you, Ed. Thanks for dropping by. :)