Some people really should know better.

So I suppose I can be a tiny bit lenient towards the makers of the t-shirts in the previous post. However, I really can't accept that a huge store whose speciality is books should be let off the hook. These posters have been in Borders stores for quite some time and I really thought someone would have noticed by now and done something about it.




What I did find amusing though was that somebody else thought they had spotted a mistake. The fact that they actually "corrected" something that was correct in the first place (and were probably quite proud of themselves) is worthy of a couple of points for effort. The person who came along afterwards and wrote "Fail! It is 'O'." definitely deserves a couple more points though.

Should I let them off?

My wife says that I shouldn't be too hard on the makers of this t-shirt as not many people realise there are only supposed to be three dots for an ellipsis. However, I criticise George Lucas enough for using four at the beginning of Star Wars Episode IV, so these people should get the same treatment!

People Who Should Know Better

I work for my local council and as part of my job today I had to move a rough sleeper from under a stairwell in a multi story car park. That bit was fine. We woke him up and asked him to move along and he was fine about it. That was the easy part. The cause of my pain arose when I passed the lifts and saw this sign. I apologise that it is out of focus but I didn't have time to stop.


I must say that while my job gets some ridicule and I get at least one of the usual clichés shouted at me per day, nothing so far has made me feel so ashamed as this sign, which was printed by someone who works for the same authority. Oh, the shame! Part of me wanted to find out who did it so that I could ask them to correct it. The other part tells me that I am better off not knowing, as I may think of them in a different light when I meet them next. It makes all the money that is poured into various training courses seem rather futile when there are those who don't have a grasp of what an apostrophe is for!

The Pedant's Place to Vent.

pedant |ˈpɛd(ə)nt| noun a person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules or with displaying academic learning.

I originally started this blog as something else. However, after several months and only a few posts, I have decided to start again. Over the years I have become increasingly frustrated by the apparent lack of regard for the English language, either in the form of the spoken or written word. Where these annoyances used to come from people who had an excuse for not knowing any better, that is no longer the case. It now seems as though it is okay for anyone to use bad grammar. Now, before I go on, I want you to know that I am not some kind of English Scholar or literary master. I am just an ordinary person who thinks that the standard of education has slipped drastically over the last decade or so.

I have decided that, while this situation annoys me greatly, it would be interesting to see what other people think. This blog is intended to be a fun place where people can have a vent and get things off their chest. Please send me your photos and screenshots of the things you see. Whether it is on a website, a billboard, in a shop, I would love to see what annoys the rest of the people out there.

To get things started I have up-loaded two photos that I took with my phone. These were in a large chain store who I would have thought would have known better.






So, you see the kind of thing I am looking for. I look forward to hearing from you.