I admit it. I'm a grammar pedantist. Maybe I need to start another self-help group.
Today we were eating lunch (term used loosely) at a KFC in southern Virginia. While waiting for our order, we stood back away from the counter and I happened to glance at the sneeze shield above the buffet. On it was a sign that read, "This is a eat in buffet only." Huh? A eat in??? And what was I thinking, not taking a picture of THAT?? I couldn't get past the mental image of customers sitting in the buffet, gorging themselves and messing up articles.
Then later we stopped for gas and I was staring absently at an advertisement for cigarettes above the pump. I knew something was wrong, and it took me a few minutes to figure out what it was. See if you can spot the error:
They're supposed to be named after that town in Wyoming - Cheyenne. It's spelled correctly on the pack, but not in the huge, pull-the-customer-in letters at the top of the ad. Gives new meaning to the phrase, "Here's your sign."
Be thankful ~
Karen
4 comments:
Grammar is important! I hate to admit it, but I tend to judge people on their written communications. I abhor dangling participles, but I'm from Chicago and we know of no other way to speak!
I know this post is a few days old, but I had to comment it since I'm ever-so-picky about grammar and spelling myself. I would join your self-help group if you started it -- except that I think it's others that need the help!
Hello, I just found this post through a Google search! Ha ha, "a eat in." :-) I would've felt compelled to find a pen and scribble an N on there.
Anyway. I had a dream last night, where one of my aunts was working on some sort of paperwork on her bed. This was in the evening, but I was running around with her sons (my cousins) and husband (well, now ex-, but he's my uncle and she's my aunt so that's how I see it). Anyway, her behavior was actually more like that of the aunt of a friend of mine, and at this time she was saying that she had wanted to play a game or something with me, but that I was busy with my cousins and that it was fine. I asked her when she would be going to bed, and she said in about an hour, which I interpreted as being an hour from 1:46, even though the clock read 4:49.
She smiles and asks me, "were you a pedantist in a past life?" I looked back to her, caught off-guard, and quietly remarked, "mm... maybe?"
My dreams have this tendency to use words that I don't actually know. I mean, some part of me must; but I nonetheless wake and wonder what someone meant when they said something... so, as usual, I look it up online when I remember, and that's how I found this post.
I guess it's not actually a word, though? :-( I couldn't find it in the dictionary, although I would imagine it a synonym of "pedant," which would make my aunt's statement somewhat loosely connected to how I've been with school lately. Anyway, great post, and there's your penny's worth of thoughts. :-) Have a great day!
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