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
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.
Daniel Antion
October 9, 2019 at 2:05pmThat’s cute. I think your corrections would be better, but this is nice.
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.