GrammarBlog

Mocking Poor Grammar
Since 2007

A noun that is formed from a verb and which describes an action. In English it ends in -ing, eg 'the baking of bread' and 'Smoking damages your health'.

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Grammar abuse in signage - part 9

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Posted by Gez on 6th November, 2007

“Brew” Ridge, originally uploaded by DiegoLuego.

This one has everything.

Unnecessary quotation marks? Check.
Irritating marketing spelling (thru)? Check.
Apostrophe abuse? Check.
Unnecessary capitalisation? Check.
Spelling error? Check.

Heaven preserve us.

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9 Comments »

1. That sign is wonderful.

   I just got your comment and wanted to check out your blog. Keep up the good work!

   Cheers,

   Sharon

   Comment by Sharon — 6th November, 2007 @ 7:14 pm

2. Don’t forget the savage typographical abuse. ‘Hmm, “Drive Thru” looks a bit small on its own like that; I’ll just stretch it a bit so that it takes up more space.’

   Comment by Tom — 6th November, 2007 @ 10:51 pm

3. That’s seven of the blogs I read!

   Comment by Elisabeth — 7th November, 2007 @ 5:36 am

4. What more could you ask for of a sign/company who offers all mistakes in one lump?

   Comment by Blue — 7th November, 2007 @ 5:38 pm

5. I’d like to see multiple exclamation points and a bit of comic sans or bank gothic thrown in the mix.

   Comment by Gez — 7th November, 2007 @ 5:48 pm

6. That’s the most vile sign I’ve ever seen.

   Comment by André McFarlane — 7th November, 2007 @ 7:06 pm

7. Even more annoying than the unnecessary apostrophes is the discrimination displayed in allocating them. Why, for example, does latte get an apostrophe, while poor old cappuccino misses out?

   Comment by Anonymous — 11th November, 2007 @ 3:35 am

8. I just now saw your link to this post in the comment section on the photo’s Flickr page. Thanks for posting this here, and what a great blog!

   Something else I just noticed: those are definitely not the Blue Ridge Mountains in that illustration; our peaks aren’t that jagged, and we do not have those trees here!

   I need to remember to swing by this place in the next few days to see if it’s still around or if they tanked. If it’s the latter, we’ll chalk it up to the bad signage.

   Comment by funkymono (aka Jeremy) — 6th May, 2008 @ 10:51 pm

9. I agree, Anonymous! If your grammar is going to be that horrendous, at least make your mistakes consistent. Then at least there would be one shred of logic: if the person can’t decide whether they have apostrophes or not, surely they would be forced to decide on one option?

   Comment by Anonymous — 7th June, 2008 @ 3:28 pm

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