Special - 2% "Milk" $3.99.
And thus my question - I know what milk is but what the hell is "milk"? It makes me think of that episode of The Simpsons with malk.
Or like my roommate, who went to take the train back home and was both amused and concerned by the fact that the trains were designated either as being late or "on time". Yes, like that. With quotation marks.
Over the last couple of years, it has come to my attention that quotation marks are probably the most abused form of punctuation. People put them EVERYWHERE, FOR NO APPARENT REASON. Like the person was making a sign and was like, huh, too plain, how can I spruce it up? Oh, extraneous punctuation is always fun! Which is fine with things like multiple exclamation points (ALL ITEMS ON SALE!!!!!) but quotation marks ACTUALLY CHANGES THE MEANING OF THE WORD OR WORDS AROUND WHICH THEY ARE PLACED (ALL ITEMS ON "SALE"!).
Like the other day, when D and I were at Crappy Tire and we passed the following sign:
Purses, Bags and Backpacks
"MUST"
Be left at counter
And I wanted to find the person who had done up that sign, and their supervisor as well, seeing as neither of them caught the fact that by PUTTING QUOTATION MARKS AROUND THAT WORD THEY ARE ESSENTIALLY NEGATING THE WHOLE POINT OF THEIR GODDAMN SIGN IN THE FIRST PLACE.
See, quotation marks, when you're not actually putting them around a quotation, essentially mean "so-called", or "not really" - aka a crazy little thing called sarcasm. Like if I'm writing about my trip and I have a heading that reads:
CUSTOMER SERVICE IN FRANCE
it means a hell of a different thing than if I write
"CUSTOMER SERVICE" IN FRANCE
So telling me I "must" leave my bag? Means I DON'T REALLY HAVE TO. Gah. People, come on! And I don't want any of your freakin' "milk" either.
Also, as long as I'm ranting on this particular subject, let me just finish with this:
QUOTE is a verb, as in "Allow me to quote Margaret Thatcher, and say "Bollocks!"" (What? She's British, I'm sure she must have said that at some point).
QUOTATION is a noun, as in "We all remember the famous Margaret Thatcher quotation, "Bollocks!""
GRAMMY THE GRAMMAR IGUANA SAYS:
"Hey kids? Have you spotted any abuses of punctuation? Report them in the comments section!"
5 comments:
I think I truly fell in love with Corner Gas in the episode where Lacy puts up a sign to offer a "free" pilates class and the townspeople (on top of wondering what the hell pilates is) kept asking her what "free" really meant and if there was a hidden charge.
OMG I missed that one! I can't believe it. I think I'll have to buy the DVD - is that from Season One? Awww yeeeeeah...isn't it just fitting that Brent Butt would hate extraneous punctutation too?
You totally need to read the book Eats,Shoots and Leaves. I started it and am totally going to finish it, well, someday. It's all about punctuation! (You may actually find it in the study in the apt., a.k.a. the bookshelf beside the T.V.)
I am testing my comments function.
It's tough to think of another bad punctuation problem in our highly 'literate' society (I'm of British extraction, so I have a fondness for single quotes but yes, they mean the same thing in this context), but the beginning of my sentence gives you a hint about my pet peeve. IT apostrophe S. But only for the contraction of it is. Not for the possessive. Oh sigh, people get this one wrong all the time. I constantly want to correct store signs... But then, guess I'm anal too...
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