12.01.2009

Punctuation Saves Lives!

I confess. I'm sort of anal about punctuation and grammar. Not to the point where I expect perfection. Nor do I deliver perfection. We all make mistakes, and this is a blog, not our college thesis.
But there are some things that just drive me insane!


I love the title of this book. It's based on this joke:

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.

'Why?' asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

'Well, I'm a panda', he says, at the door. 'Look it up.'

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large: black-and-white bear-like mammal; native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'

~*~*~*~

This is a big-time pet peeve of mine.

When you're saying YOU ARE, it's "you're", not "your", people!

And here's another big one. I see this SO often and it seriously makes me itch. How have people gotten through at least 13+ years of school and not learned that the APOSTROPHE "S" signifies possession?

Here's an example for you: The DOGS are barking.
This is the DOG'S bowl.
It's really so simple.
ALL words that end in "S" do not require an apostrophe. I promise!

No no NO!!!


*Scream* I give up!

Oh, and if you happen to own a business, please make sure your signs do not have any grammatical or punctuation errors in them. Because if they do, people like me will rant and rave at their poor husbands (the only people who will listen to our tirades) and swear to never utilize your services.
I'm just saying.

18 comments:

Tara R. said...

Having worked in the print media industry for years, it became a game to go through the newspaper and find examples of these. At some point you just have to laugh.

Sarah said...

I am HORRIBLE with the 's stuff. And not only did I graduate high school...I have a BS degree as well.

Shannon said...

Yeah, the misuse of your/you're bugs me, too. As does their/there.

And the unnecessary apostophes! The sign on a local sports car dealership is "Mark's Toy's". Seriously, how do you expect someone to buy a $30,000 sports car from you when you can't even get your sign correct?!

Karen in Texas said...

There, their and they're are the ones that drive me crazy. Loved this entry Cyndy.

Unknown said...

Haha ... I can't believe there are such massive grammar errors on such important/large signage. WOW.

Love you're (just kidding) ... your snowy theme here. It's very cool!

Allison said...

I'm not perfect by any means but these simple things just annoy the crap out of me! Is it really that hard? My bigger pet peeve though is the mispronunciation of words like, especially-there's no x in that word!

I took a class once all about how language and punctuation change just because of how people use it. They don't know the right way, so they just change the rules! Crazy, huh?!?

shortmama said...

I am with you girl!

Unknown said...

i love it! you are (or you're, whichever you prefer) my sistah from another mistah!

Heather said...

those drive me INSANE. mainly "you're" and "your". grrrrr.

♥ Boomer ♥ said...

I am so with ya on this!!!!! Pardon my 'ya' -- but I see that Blogger accepts it as a word now! ;-)

mrsofficer said...

Hahaha I hope you got it out of your system! lol

cat said...

Oh you know that last one actually comes from South Africa, near Hayzyview (near to the Kruger park) and is well know here for it's spelling mistake.

Please do not judge me - English is not my first language!

C said...

bwahahahahaha i know's what's ya mean, their.... blue gene's!

roflmao!


i hate it to.

c ;)

Twisted Fencepost said...

Funny joke!
That sign looks like it's telling the hippo to beware.
Yep, punctuation is important in communication.

Lorie Shewbridge said...

You can rant & rave about it to me because my hubs is getting sick of me ranting & raving to HIM about the horrible grammar in sinage around here.

Anonymous said...

I am the same way! My Dad was an English teacher, so that's what I grew up with.

Claudya Martinez said...

Your blog's (not possessive, but a contraction) looking so nice.

I mess up with commas all the time and lay awake at night thinking about it.

I can't believe those signs. Honestly, that's just dumb.

Kerree said...

This is a pet peeve of mine too. And I also rant and rave and say I'll never shop there again. But if I took a camera everywhere I went and took photos of every sign that didn't use correct punctuation or spelling, I'd be taking pictures all day and never shopping anywhere again!