Entries Tagged as 'apostrophe abuse'

and all the pieces matter

October 28th, 2008 · 88 Comments

“If it wasn’t for the handwriting,” says Lauren in California, “I would have guessed my mom wrote it.”

Meanwhile, Carson in Valencia found this note (crudely laminated with packing tape) attached to a tree while walking his dog in the park. “Maybe next time Maggie will think twice about leaving her ceramic cats unattended,” he says.

And [...]

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Tags: CAPS LOCK · apostrophe abuse · california · comma diarrhea · emdash overboard · garbage · neighbors · rhetorical question · seattle · you call that punctuation? · you know who you are

signed with a glasgow kiss

August 12th, 2008 · 107 Comments

rodti and laura elizabeth spotted these charming examples of local scottish color outside an internet cafe in glasgow’s west end.

meanwhile, a grocery story elsewhere in glasgow displays a similar plea for clemency…one that seems intended for a similar clientele.

related: blame it on coke
extra credit: buckfast tonic wine [wikipedia]
the worst toilet in scotland [youtube]

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Tags: "customer service" · CAPS LOCK · apostrophe abuse · exclamation-point happy! · glasgow · irregular capitalization · it's not my fault · pure poetry · spelling and grammar police · toilet · u.k.

maybe it’s time for sally struthers to get involved

May 14th, 2008 · 141 Comments

with finals and thesis deadlines coming up, stress levels among grad students at uc-berkeley have been running high (which means attention to the finer points of, say, apostrophe use, are running low). and now there’s a lunch thief on the loose!

sadly, says our submitter, the note’s multi-pronged approach (guilt, threats, helpful advice) seems to [...]

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Tags: apostrophe abuse · berkeley · california · food · fridge · kitchen · preggers · stealing · the homeless · university · warning

the fruitcake’s in the mail

April 15th, 2008 · 103 Comments

“not long before i left my previous job writing reviews of video games, i got this little gem from someone involved in the production of a game i didn’t exactly care for,” alex says. “game-makers bitching about reviews is nothing new, but rarely do they do it with as much sarcastic flair as this one [...]

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Tags: apostrophe abuse · e-mail · holiday spirit · sarcasm · thanks (but not really)

if we give up our exclamation points, the terrorists win!!!

January 30th, 2008 · 62 Comments

“the tiny sioux city, iowa airport had a jaw-droppingly comprehensive intro to what one could or could not take on board a plane,” reports timoni in san francisco, including actual sample-sized bottles of toiletries taped up, show-and-tell style. “the corker, though, was this vehement note near the end (which, yes, had a plastic QUART-SIZE BAG!!!!!!!!! [...]

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Tags: CAPS LOCK · airport · apostrophe abuse · exclamation-point happy! · sioux city · spelling and grammar police

So much for turning the other cheek

December 13th, 2007 · 140 Comments

Thanks to Sarah for capturing this delicious little slice of life from her Christian college in Illinois. (Delicious like a quart of Starbucks Coffee Almond Fudge, not one measly little low-fat Frappucino bar.)

related: but He took the wheel

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Tags: apostrophe abuse · excessive underlining · heart · ice cream · illinois · irregular capitalization · not-so-veiled threats · spelling and grammar police · touching · university · you call that punctuation? · you're like so going to hell

i’ve got my eye on you

November 27th, 2007 · 135 Comments

laura spotted this punchline of a note (“you know it’s time to move out when…”) at her apartment building in downtown brooklyn. or rather, her former apartment building.

it’s unclear whether the note-leaver was motivated by recent research suggesting that pictures of eyes may deter crime. meanwhile, kim documented a convenience store in worcester, massachusetts taking [...]

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Tags: CAPS LOCK · apostrophe abuse · brooklyn · excessive underlining · massachusetts · more aggressive than passive · not-so-veiled threats · stealing · worcester

Oh, shit!

November 11th, 2007 · 173 Comments

My own neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn has high concentrations of dogs, babies, crazies and bloggers, which makes for a heady brew of incredibly well-documented passive-aggressiveness. Certain notes (like this long-running series) show up in my inbox over and over again. I’ve gotten various iterations of this note from no fewer than six different people [...]

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Tags: apostrophe abuse · brooklyn · dogs · ellipses-crazed · excessive underlining · exclamation-point happy! · irregular capitalization · park slope · saga · shit · unnecessary "quotation marks"