I met a friend at 1816 (a restaurant) for dinner. In the can, I found this plaque, which I need to share for One Liner Wednesday:
The editor in me wants it to read “germs and Jesus” in order to parallel “wash your hands and say your prayers”. I also want to fix that apostrophe that thinks it’s a single opening quotation mark.
A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Someone goes around correcting poorly punctuated signs in public places.
MA
Mitchell Allen
October 13, 2019 at 8:03amWhen I read it out loud, it scans better, as written. Is that the right word, scans? Heh, it’s all about the rythym.
I tend to auto-correct signs, YouTube comments and TV shows. My brain rejects discordant phrases and punctuation. Even if Webster decides to treat “they” as a new singular, I still grimace. My pet peeve, though, is the harrowing, “I could care less…”
Cheers,
Mitch
Marian Allen
October 14, 2019 at 9:35amWell, we both agree and disagree: I hate, “I could care less”, but I love the singular “they”, which is quite venerable, as it happens. I prefer it to “he or she” and I understand the desire of non-binary folks to have something that doesn’t force a false identification on them. I also like a pronoun that doesn’t trigger socially ingrained expectations by gender. If a new gender-neutral pronoun could be invented and accepted, I’d be happy with that. Failing that or in the meantime, “they” will do. But I’ll fight for your right to dispute that.
Daniel Antion
October 9, 2019 at 2:05pmThat’s cute. I think your corrections would be better, but this is nice.
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt
October 9, 2019 at 1:51pmAye. The apostrophe should read
‘Cause.
Directions matter.
But that is a great way to get people to think about washing their hands properly.
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt
October 9, 2019 at 1:51pmDang it. Your comment system put the apostrophe in backward, too.