Life on the Road

This episode of the Punctuation Police brings you a close cousin to a “favorite” pet peeve of Nick’s: The ATM “PIN Number”.

Since PIN is an acronym, that phrase that people walk around saying all the time is actually

Personal Identification Number Number

Hmmmm.

Here’s another funny redundancy. This one is not just something that people say, but something that has actually been published, produced and enshrined by a major food service company.

Taco Bell would like to sell you a

Five Dollar Buck Box

What??

You know, one of these:

When we first saw this on a signboard outside a store, we assumed it was just an employee’s error.

Needless to say we were stunned to discover the magnitude of the ignorance, which they spent millions of dollars showing off during the Super Bowl.

I can’t eat one. I won’t support it.

Stealing a phrase from the old Star Kist commercials –

Taco Bell doesn’t have food that tastes bad; Taco Bell has food that’s in bad taste.

This is a close cousin to “It’s Not Possessive“.

Contraction?

The Kid *is* a Hair Salon

Of course, you’re missing a couple of little words to make this work, even if it wasn’t fictional…

Possessive?

This would have to be the hair salon of someone named Kid. (And not even Kidd, as in Captain).

It’s not even the hair salon of “The Kid”.

What do they mean?

Presumably, they are a hair salon that caters to kids -

Kids’ Hair Salon

So, let me get this straight:

Flora Say Is, “You’ll love…”

That’s not just a possessive / contraction problem, as most apostrophe errors are. That’s a totally bewildering un-English-ism.

And, by the way, how cool is it this – my kids are so excited about proper English that my oldest snaps photos of errors as we drive around!

If you haven’t had a chance yet, be sure to check out our new blog: As For My House is up and running!

Here’s a great one for the LEP-Recon files:

The area of interest being here:

Yes, it’s true… Someone else had already taken it upon themself to correct IKEA’s punctuation.

And just to clarify – while I am annoyed by such silly errors, and point them out with glee, I do not approve of what can only be called vandalism.

Here’s another camera-phone photo from the road. Not a Punctuation Police emergency this time, just a hilarious packaging description:

Check out the white line near the top: NO FAKE CRAP

Something I often say, but not your typical ad slogan.

Maybe I ought to watch that movie “Crazy People” again…

Here’s a comedian who agrees with my Punctuation Police assertion that people should use the language correctly, and brings a whole new slant to it!

This “most aggressively inarticulate generation”! *giggle*

It’s “Made with Beef & Pork, Turkey”

Oh, my!

I’m sure it’s made with Beef and Pork… But why are they calling me Turkey??

We saw this sign hanging outside the fabulous place we had brunch for my birthday:

Hmmmm.

Presumably, they want you to

They also need punctuation between the “I Do” and the “HAVE YOUR WEDDING…”

It would sure be nice if sign-makers took some responsibility for proof-reading the things they’re asked to create, rather than just having you sign off that you approve it.

Of course, it would be nice if a business cared enough to make sure their advertising investment was correct!

Nick and I are big fans of proper English. We laughed out loud reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

In fact, we even got Jewel started early:

Anyhow, at the back of the book, Ms. Truss provides a sticker kit for vigelante punctuation correction – big red apostrophes and all.

We didn’t feel that was really acceptable behavior – although it was certainly appealing. After some deliberation, we decided to simply share the entertaining usage we stumbled across with you.

Although punctuation is a favorite, we’ll pick up some grammer and other oddities along the way, as well.

Re-inventing the acronym from the Artemis Fowl series, we’re calling ourselves the “‘Learn English Properly!’ Recon Squad” … or, LEPrecon. (Or simply Punctuation Police).

To get things rolling, here’s a sign we saw yesterday at our local Boston Market restaurant:

Apparently, YOU ARE the #1 choice…

[The correct usage is "Your", which is possessive]