Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Apostrophe Proselytizing

The other day my husband and I drove past a house that had a sign in the front yard which said:

Drywall Repair's
and
Odd Job's
Call 555-5555

Just typing that incorrectly nearly killed me! It's a good thing my husband was driving because I would have been tempted to stop and fix the sign, or, at the very least, to tell the owner that he was damaging his credibility by showing that he didn't know the difference between a plural and a possessive. I mean, I'm not hiring someone who can't tell the difference between "repair's" and "repairs," are you? It would only take me a few minutes to explain it, but that would be rude and obnoxious, wouldn't it, sort of apostrophe proselytizing? It's probably better not to say anything, but I can hardly stand seeing such a simple error go uncorrected.

I might have to sneak back some night with a can of white spray paint so I can fix that sign...

4 comments:

amanda. said...

Oh man! Count me in! I'm all for the guerrilla art fixing of the sign. (Can you tell I already do this?) We can dress in ninja outfits and I'll get someone to video tape. It'll be great.

Jim said...

Personally I alway's say you can't' get too many apostrophe's into you're sentences'.

The guy has a bigger problem with his phone number.

The Cat Bastet said...

"The guy has a bigger problem with his phone number."

You are right, Mitch! I wonder if he's annoyed that it's used in so many TV shows and movies? On the other hand, maybe it's good for business... :)

The Cat Bastet said...

Thank you to my sis-in-law (the engineer) who caught the typo and to everyone else who resisted the temptation to point it out. At least it wasn't an apostrophe error!