Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All » Grammar

McGrammar at McDonald’s

Ms. SP — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:46:04 +0000

This apostrophe catastrophe poster lives in a Washington, D.C., McDonald’s. It’s strange that they have so many harder grammar elements correct and yet totally blew the easier ones.

Michelina’s Chef Inspired Recipe Label

Ms. SP — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:38:39 +0000

I don’t understand why you would want to advertise that your recipe was inspired by chefs. Wouldn’t you want your recipe to actually be created by real live chefs?

Look, We Have to Stop Saying, “Look”

Ms. SP — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:17:03 +0000

The president started it.

Now everyone is doing it—even me.

And it’s driving me crazy.

Please don’t say Look when you mean Listen.
Please don’t even say Listen. It’s condescending and automatically puts the listener on the defensive.

I know President Obama is going to have trouble stopping this linguistic tic because he probably does it all the time. All of his people have caught it and are spreading it throughout the media-sphere. It’s infiltrating society.

So please, Mr. President, fix the country first. Then lead us all into better language usages.

Problematic Jiffy Lube Sign

Ms. SP — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:17:18 +0000

I got an oil change on New Year’s Eve and saw this right in front of me.

Sometimes I just don’t understand. If you’re not confident with words, why try to cast something as tangible as a public sign? (Why not try a blog instead?) Wasn’t there anyone else to consult?

The heading doesn’t describe the list properly.
There’s a redundant set off with the numbers.
I don’t know who Matt is, but surely he can’t be happy.

La Scarola Italian Restaurant Menu Typos

Ms. SP — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:23:31 +0000

The boyfriend and I ate at La Scarola this past weekend. I’ll say a little more about the food later in the week, but in the meantime, check out this duo of unfortunate menu typos. Yikes!

Grammar: Best Western New Englander Signs

Ms. SP — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:15:30 +0000

Check out the other entries included in the August 27th edition of Tickled Elbows.

My pet story about this pair is that management decided to show a peon just how easy it is to make a sign correctly. As is the case with the other two signs I have put up so far, there are just so many problems. In case you are wondering, Spuds is the restaurant attached to the hotel.

For more strangely addicting signage issues, check out Signs Gone Wrong.

Grammar: Chicago Architectural Foundation Sign

Ms. SP — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:08:22 +0000

This picture shows the bottom half of a sign on the Chicago Architectural Foundation’s river tour ticketing booth. I wonder how many people saw proofs of this all through the creation process and decided to let it go through.

I love that, at first glance, the random capitalization actually makes the message about cell phones read contrary to what it really wants to say.

Grammar: Salt Lake City Capitol Sign

Ms. SP — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:52:43 +0000

This post has been accepted into the Photo Edition of the Carnival of Travelers.

On a recent trip to Salt Lake City, I took this photo of a sign on the west doors of the newly redone Salt Lake City capitol building. The building had base stabilizers placed under it to prevent earthquake damage so everyone had to move out.

When I visited, government hadn’t moved back in yet. Workers were still painting, hammering, and doing the touch-ups.

I stood for several moments in front of this sign. Even now, I wonder what the sign-maker means by the end of his/her message.