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Mocking Poor Grammar
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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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"This" is "just" "ridiculous"

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Posted by Gez on 21st April, 2008

IMG_6492, originally uploaded by bblivit.

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.

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9 Comments »

1. On the “bright side”, if there were a “fire”, all these “unnecessary” quote “marks” would hopefully be reduced to “ashes”.

   Comment by pauldwaite — 21st April, 2008 @ 10:09 pm

2. my mother insists on surrounding greeting card sentiments with the same multitude of “quote marks”, despite my assurance that it makes her sound insincere

   Comment by Moss — 21st April, 2008 @ 10:24 pm

3. “BY THE TIME” people “FINISH READING THAT” they’ll have “BURNED TO A CRISP.”

   Comment by Jason — 21st April, 2008 @ 11:31 pm

4. The “problem” is, when I “read” quote marks, I “slow down”. So it takes “ten times” as long to read as “without” them.

   Comment by Mantolwen — 22nd April, 2008 @ 9:21 am

5. Don’t forget to check out Mike’s photo of the other sign posted in the same stairwell. These people are nothing if not consistent.

   Comment by Laura K — 23rd April, 2008 @ 2:56 pm

6. I would be willing to donate some red sharpies to Mike and anyone else who frequents that building. O:-)

   Comment by Jason — 23rd April, 2008 @ 3:00 pm

7. Let me see if I can translate this correctly. When there’s a fire, I’m not supposed to use this exit. If I do, I cannot go to any other floors and I can only leave the building from the ground floor. Hmmm, if there�s a fire, I’d rather not leave the building from the 4th floor.

   Comment by rpmason — 24th April, 2008 @ 6:17 pm

8. When I was in college, there was an administrative assistant who did the same heinous thing. Admittedly, it did provide ample entertainment at times, such as my favorite email, announcing a “DEPARTMENT PARTY” and asking those who wanted to attend to please bring a “SNACK”…

   Comment by rachel — 30th April, 2008 @ 4:34 pm

9. I like the idea of a “SNACK”. That’s like a red rag to a bull for a fat lad. Could a full leg of ham be considered a “snack”?

   Comment by Gez — 30th April, 2008 @ 5:07 pm

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