I'll take a few Sub's, please!

Here's a good one from another Williams alumna. It's a little tough to see, but the apostrophe is in the word subs. Or, I guess it's Sub's. Anyway, Mr. Sub owns the steak, the pastrami, the veal parm, etc., but Ms. Salad does not own anything because she is just appropriately plural. I still don't get how you can get it right in one part of a sign, but wrong in another.

My theory is that if someone shortens a word - like writing sub for submarine - then an apostrophe gets put in there for no reason. Perhaps it is to take the place of 'marine'.

Sandwich boards are always good for misfit apostrophes.

The Emmy's are on tonight!

In honor of the Emmy Awards tonight, here is a great one. I was looking at Twitter today because while I don't tweet, I do love one particular person's page. Anyway, I wanted to see what the difference was between followers and following. I went to the twitter homepage and saw this. If you look closely at the most popular searches on Twitter today, the most popular - even more popular than the correct plural Emmys - is Emmy's. That means that more people searching on Twitter think that the plural of Emmy is Emmy's. Fantastic.

Sweet Font Though...

There are so many fun things to point out in this sign. First, there's the obvious apostrophe misuse. What we've often found amusing is one's need to insert an apostrophe every chance they get. Is there an S? Slap on an apostrophe. I'm surprised it doesn't also say "Plea'se."

Adding to the fun of this sign is the fact that it can also be included in one of my other fave blogs which features the always amusing misuse of quotation marks. Unless the sign maker intended for the please to be sarcastic.

But the real kicker is that this sign is on the side of a large-format printer in a professional sign-printing establishment. Nice work guys! AND, to top it all off, I believe the sign was made with a sticky vinyl material which allows each individual letter and punctuation mark to be added and removed separately. This sign could easily be fixed...and yet it stays.

New Plural Rule - A=Apostrophe O=No Apostrophe

This is the sign from an establishment on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey. As you can see, plurals of words ending in O are formed properly while plurals of words ending in A are formed with an apostrophe. I suppose that's a new rule learned only in select elementary school English classes. S after O but not after A, instead you insert an apostrophe. It's taught right after the lesson on adding -es to make a plural and just before the lesson on deer and deer.

It continues to beg the question whether the sign makers say anything when presented with the instructions for the sign.

When the Missing Apostrophe is the Least of Your Problems

Our brother has become very enthused about this blog (or just loves a reason to procrastinate), and sent along this gem and the associated commentary below.

This first came to my attention because of the obvious missing apostrophe in "Dicks." All well and good, but not too compelling, especially since Dick's stylish letter design probably limited his flexibility in adding the apostrophe. Maybe he knew he needed it, but why sacrifice the perfect balance of those five letters with the burden of a little apostrophe? I probably would have appreciated better the apparent punning use of "buy" instead of "by" in "buy the bagfull" if I wasn't already suspicious of Dick's mastery of English grammar. Did he really mean it? Is it actually clever?

But I really began to question Dick's sanity when I considered the center of the sign. What creature is that holding the hamburger? Is it a skunk? A teddy bear with a cute puffy tail? A koala? And why is the mysterious fluffy creature feeding the hamburger to a rooster with that furtive look in its eye? Is this Dick's response to the Chick-fil-A "Eat Mor Chikin'" campaign? "Hey, chikin' eat mor meet."

Sara's note: "Bagfull" should actually be spelled "bagful." Man, this sign is a mess.

Not So Happy Heinys

This is the wrapper from a cloth diaper. The Trademark name is Happy Heinys like it's the plural of heiny, no apostrophe. But, on the back, it's spelled Happy Heiny's like these are owned by someone named Heiny. Now, if the official name is Happy Heinys, when you make it possessive, wouldn't it be Happy Heinys' diapers? I've seen it on multiple cloth diaper merchant websites as Heiny's, though on their official website it's Heinys. Confused yet?

I don't know whose Heinys could be happy with this!

Kicking the Misfit Apostrophes Way Old School

I guess this Misfit Apostrophe thing has been going on for some time. I got this from a fellow Williams grad whose son is going to study abroad in the UK and wanted a flag that was not as obviously American as the Stars and Stripes. This flag is called the Gadsden flag and the image is from 1775. You can find more about it on Wikipedia. Anyway, there's no apostrophe in don't.

This caused us to wonder about what grammar and punctuation was like during the founding of the US. Were apostrophes uncommon? Maybe people at that time didn't use the apostrophe to stand in for missing letters. Though in my very short Google search, I found that the apostrophe was used as early as the 16th century.

This post isn't to mock the flag, but just to point out that the apostrophe has been inserted or omitted incorrectly for quite some time.

We are open to any comments speculating about why Gadsden would not have included the apostrophe. Maybe it was artistic so as not to interrupt the flow of the letters with an apostrophe.

Discuss.

Love Drunk, but Apostrophe Deprived

While watching Fuse the other night, (I'll gladly admit I was watching Empire Records) there was a commercial for some band called Boys Like Girls and their new single "Love Drunk."

During the commercial, the lyrics for the chorus were flashing across the screen and we noticed the above...so we took a picture.

I'm not sure who is responsible for making these commercials, or if anyone responsible even noticed, but we did. Pathetically, while double-checking the lyrics, I discovered that the apostrophe is included correctly on one of those fan-written lyric sites that always have grammatical errors.

Its vs. It's is a common apostrophe error, but that's not really an excuse when you're making a television commercial. Perhaps the somewhat lame nature of the lyrics led to the apostrophe mishap. I've decided to include the whole chorus, so you can really appreciate the song with proper punctuation:

"I used to be love drunk,

but now I'm hungover.

I'll love you forever,

but now it's over."

Sign Language on Wheels?

I think the best part about a mistake is when the person makes it repeatedly so you know that they really meant it when they were wrong. "Paul Signs" appears in no less than five places on this truck. I bet your first thought upon seeing this wonder on wheels was that Paul wanted the world to know about his mad sign language skills. That was my first guess. But no, because he also specializes in awnings. Since 1984! Do you think he's been driving this truck around NYC for 25 years and no one bothered to tell him? Is he the one responsible for all of the misspelled signs around the city? In the interest of good business, if one is a maker of signs, shouldn't their own signs be correct?

Disclaimer: I'm willing to accept that this might be okay, but Becky and I decided prior to posting that it was still funny, mostly because without the apostrophe, it's a complete sentence. If you're not willing to accept that this is a misfit apostrophe, do not fear, we have many more pictures in the pipeline.

Ugly Betty

I took this picture of my TV after pausing the DVR. This episode was called "Zero Worship" and was aired in January of 2008. The picture is of an invitation to the Mode Fashion Show during Fashion Week in New York. Adding an apostrophe to gets is my favorite of all misfit apostrophe placements. It's one thing to mess up its and it's. I can understand that. It's entirely another to add an apostrophe to a word that would never need one. What does get own? Do you ever use the phrase "get is"?

I wonder if anyone else even noticed this...

In Search of the Wal-Mart's Bus

I live in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, but I grew up in South Jersey. I have noticed in the years that I have lived here that people like to add an apostrophe s to names of stores. I think that probably happens everywhere, but it seems to be quite pervasive here. My favorite is when people use Wal-Mart's as in, "I'm going to Wal-Mart's, do you need anything?" I think I understand why people might do it when it is a store like Aubuchon Hardware and people say Aubuchon's Hardware like someone named Aubuchon owns the hardware store. But the Wal-Mart name stands alone and people still do it. There's also Panera's, Costco's and a whole list of other places.

Anyway, I thought it was just a verbal expression that people used. Then, when I was at the mall in Albany once, I saw a public bus that displays its destination on the front. The destination was listed as Wal-Mart's. I have actually now seen it two or three times, but have not been able to get a picture. I would LOVE to have a picture of that.

Again, how is it that someone lets that go by? And if you can understand how it happens for one day, how is it that nobody who works for the bus company catches it so that it doesn't persist?

I am on a mission to take a picture of that bus. If anyone has seen it, please send a picture along.

The Sign that Started it All

I took this picture two years ago when I went to see my husband work in Durham. This sign is at the concession stand in the stadium where the Durham Bulls play. I'm not sure what the dogs own. Is it the dogs' drinks and popcorn? What kind of dog sells drinks and popcorn? If it is the dogs' drinks and popcorn, why the comma after dogs? Or, if the apostrophe was indeed appropriate, why isn't there an apostrophe after drinks or popcorn?

After seeing this sign, I began to wonder who approved the sign. I guess I could see it slipping by one person, but then wasn't there a proof? Then I thought about all of the people who work for the Durham Bulls who go to the stadium every day. Don't they notice the sign? Why hasn't anyone said anything? I can't believe nobody working there has taken a stand and insisted that the sign be fixed. Is nobody embarrassed? I have not gone back recently, so I am not sure if it has been changed. If anyone lives in Durham and can verify whether this sign still exists, please let us know.

This sign was the one that started my obsession with signs that have inappropriate apostrophe placement.

Intro to Misfit Apostrophe's

My sister and I have been noticing misfit apostrophes for a number of years and have sent pictures of them back and forth. We have often spoken of creating a blog about them, but have never had the time. We are now spending our days caring for my twins, so we have some more time to type when the twins are sleeping. We have built up quite a collection of misfit apostrophes and will begin to post them here. If you have your own picture, please let us know and we will be happy to post it.

Please be on the lookout for more misfits as we collect them in the Land of Misfit Apostrophe's.