Sin's committed by car washe's in local town's

A great apostrophe moment this morning. At least, it started as a great moment. And then, it all went horribly wrong ....

Local garages seem particularly guilty of the 'apostrophe in the plural' disease, eg Bring your car's and motorbike's to u's. (Yes, the last one was made up. No, it's not nice to mock, you're right.)

So, when I passed a nearby car wash this morning, I was so EXCITED to see their notice.

We wash cars (yay! no apostrophe) and MPVs (yay! yay! yay!) and vans (whoopee! let me hug you!) and caravans (give that man a gold star!) and HGVs ('Arise, Sir Car Wash Manager'!).

Then, the next bit of the notice.

Price's start at £5.

(Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!)

PS This was a one-off, right? So no taking yourself off my followers list in a huff just because you don't want me looking at your punctuation. It's just, every now and again, a woman has to indulge her passions. Yes, I know it's sad. Yes, I do go out at weekends. Yes, I do realise I'm a pariah. Yes, I do still get invited to parties. (Getting people to talk to me is another matter.)

So don't feel bad. I don't alway's get thing's right myself, as it happen's.

Comments

  1. The Retired One10/9/09 15:27

    It drives me NUTS too! I agree with you. Who on earth proofreads these signs????

    ReplyDelete
  2. Friko10/9/09 15:41

    No way are you a pariah, you can come and stay with the scraper and I
    (shriek) any time you like, for he and I (shriek) that would be a great pleasure. For the like's of us, misspelling's, greengrocers apostrophe's, and stuff are a cause of everlasting, small-minded, pedantic irritation's. We are very unique, one of the only people we know like that. See?

    Go and look at my blog and read something funny to take your mind of thing's.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lesley10/9/09 15:59

    I'm so with you!! It drives me crazy that nobody knows the difference between its and it's. Drive's me crazy, I tell you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sharon10/9/09 17:40

    You barely know me, but you know I'd have to adore this post. It beat's me why people can't figure out how to use apostrophe's.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Brilliant Sulk10/9/09 23:01

    Guilty.

    I hope you or your're reader's dont come to my blog and judge my grammmer and punktuation.....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Amy11/9/09 18:01

    Apostrophe proliferation is at epidemic proportions.

    Today at the gym there was a schedule posted that said "Try our new classes -- Monday's = Pilates" and so on through the entire week.

    I know I have my own grammatical faults, but some things just drive me nut's.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sharon12/9/09 05:24

    I commented! Where did it go?????

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fran Hill12/9/09 09:53

    Retired One - I think the answer to your question is, no one proofread's those sign's.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fran Hill12/9/09 09:53

    Friko, I am glad to hear I am not the only pariah round here. If that's not a contradiction in terms.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Fran Hill12/9/09 09:54

    Lesley - it's and its is one I draw many, many red circles round in my students' exercise books. I have probably used a hundred red pens just on it's and its alone.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Fran Hill12/9/09 09:55

    Sharon - do they do 'apostrophe-pedant' weekends, do you think, like they do 'embroidery' or 'beginner horse-riding'? We should all go and meet up.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Fran Hill12/9/09 09:57

    Sharon - your comment was right here, waiting to be added when I emerged from underneath a pile of marking, parents' evenings and lesson planning. Sorry!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Fran Hill12/9/09 09:57

    Amanda - wouldn't dream of it. You're too funny - I don't notice any mistakes because I'm creased up.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Fran Hill12/9/09 10:03

    Amy - you were lucky there wasn't one in 'Pilates'. I bet they wondered .... Thanks for dropping by.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Caz12/9/09 12:23

    It's not nice to mock.

    Huh? Your not seerius, shurely?

    The itinerant apostrophe is one of my all-time-great-hates; I can't pass a greengrocer's without cringing, just in case...

    ReplyDelete
  16. Mark Kerstetter12/9/09 13:04

    Nothing is more absurd than the intentional misspelling of words by people who can't spell to begin with. (OK, make sure e v e r y word is spelled right...Good, now Post Comment...)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Fran Hill14/9/09 12:39

    Mark, you put some spaces in between the letters of 'every'. Did you realise?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Fran Hill14/9/09 12:41

    Caz, it's great to have so many fellow-pedants and to know that all over the world there are other people reading signs in the high street and feeling distressed. And thanks for signing up - you made a lover of round numbers very happy indeed. 50! Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  19. COUNT SNEAKY16/9/09 08:32

    My dear Fran. Personally, I feel one's punctuation is personal, somewhat like the flavor of Altoids one is disposed to for refreshment,;( Pick one) and, a slice or two of pedantry goes down well with a pomegranate soda spiked with non-dangling participles and
    transitive verbs. My favorite reference books are "The Transitive Vampire" and "Eats, Shoots and Leaves." Good punctuation( or at least lucid punctuation) is good manners in an age where insipid ignorance is considered a social and political virtue. My best. Count Sneaky

    ReplyDelete
  20. A Woman Of No Importance16/9/09 12:00

    Ooh, I love getting my red pen out - I should of bin a signriter!

    Thank you for joining us at Mad Manic Mamas - there may be a rogue apostrophe here or there, but we do our best!

    Love your blog by the way, welcome and thank you for doing what you do so well, i.e. writing wonderfully while edutaining the yoof of terday!

    Fhina x

    ReplyDelete
  21. Fran Hill17/9/09 12:25

    Count, I do like it when you turn up on my blog comments. You always bring a real sense of gentility into the proceedings.

    ReplyDelete
  22. jessica25/9/09 15:26

    Well, it is good to see that others take notice of these grammatical errors, too! My co-workers and I would also remark upon the errors in spellings, verbs, etc., committed by a certain someone who had the responsibility of sending out company-wide e-mails regarding the upcoming schedules of training opportunities. Sometimes this person would try to retrieve the e-mail(s) she had just sent - and then re-send them with (for example) a date correction - and leave the other goofs uncorrected.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Fran Hill26/9/09 10:58

    Jessica - thanks for dropping by - I've spotted your name on The Retired One's blog many a time! Sounds like your colleague was a lost cause. But how do you say to people, 'By the way, your brain's punctuation section needs a transplant, and quick'?

    ReplyDelete

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