I am back!

Notice that the sticker says, "How's my driving?"

This is funny. The error I wish to address is the use of that instead of who. Folks are people, so the pronoun who should be used, not the pronoun that.

It should be "THEY'RE BACK." This one is easily checked. If, when you write or speak, you mean they are, then you should use the contraction they're. Of course, the contractions are unacceptable in formal writing.

This is a picture I took several months ago.. (Obviously, since we now believe that $2.59 gasoline is cheap!) Rather than "peice," this writer should have used "piece."

I hope the food is DEAD!

It has been a year since I last posted! Thanks to Amber for faithfully sending me pictures of mistakes she finds in her part of the state and neighboring state. I have a few new pics saved on my computer that I have been meaning to post.

This one is funny. Of course "ur" means "your." I realize that this is abbreviated to save space, but as a middle school English teacher I frequently see students who use this in formal writing. YIKES!

A few gems I have found in the past few weeks...

Cheap Das! Cheap Das! Call it what you will. If I could get it for $2.15, I'd be happy!
Set is transitive. It means to put or to place. SIT is intransitive. It means to rest or to recline. If you use SET, you must have a direct object. In other words, you have to be SETting something. COME SIT A SPELL.
It's JEWELRY. Get out the dictionary before you make a sign.

There are so very many things wrong with this letter to the editor. Before pointing out the problems, I would like to spend a few minutes on my soapbox. This is a prime example of why education, specifically English class, is so important. I cannot count the number of times students told me that English was never going to benefit them. I even had one parent say that her son was not going to need my class (She said he was going to play for the NFL.), so it did not matter whether or not he passed my class. I should stop bothering her with notes about his failure to complete homework or pass tests, she said. Having a good command of English benefits everyone, both the writer and reader. :)

This is quite comical, actually. I especially like the glimpse into the life of this young man's arguments with his family regarding his changing oil on the sidewalk.

In the first line of the letter "be" should be "are." "Beat up" should be "beaten up," or better yet, replace it with a more suitable word. In the second line "to do with" should be reworded. The last sentence in the first paragraph is painful to read. The use of "ain't" and the double negative are the most glaring mistakes. The second paragraph contains the unnecessary use of "out."

There are other issues with this letter, but I can bear it no more.

I imagine this was written in pencil on a piece of memo pad paper. The graphite was probably smudged.

I guess science was probably not a strong point for this guy either. Maybe he just skipped the unit on the benefits of trees.

Fatality results in weekend wreck
By Hollice SmithThe Daily Sentinel
Published January 30, 2007One person was killed in a traffic accident on Alabama Highway 35 about 11:10 p.m. Sunday, according to state troopers.Troopers said the accident occurred about one mile south of Scottsboro.Hughes was driving a 1999 Jeep, which hit a guard rail, and he was wearing a seat belt, authorities said.Jackson County Coroner John David Jordan said Hughes had been working in Huntsville with a cleaning service and is believed to have been returning home.

This is an article in an Alabama newspaper. I deleted some of the information. Notice the headline. While it is possible for someone to die and cause a wreck, I do not believe that is what happened here.

I can just hear the teachers at the schools near this..."You better study your spelling words. You don't want to end up making mistakes like SOTP."
Stop. No, wait, don't stop.
I am thinking that there are not many opportunities to advance your career at this store.

A most unfortunate last name..... wonder if the men in this family have trouble finding a woman who will marry them.
Huh??
What a unique combination of merchandise at such an appropriately named store!
Hmmm.....if one is illiterate, can one read the sign? I suppose someone who is functionally illiterate could read it.
I guess each kid would have to prove that he/she indeed has gas in order to receive the discount. Line up kids and wait your turn.

You mean that they are still dead??
Let's start with teaching a bit of spelling!
Five kids for the price of two kids...what a deal!!
I bet! It would probably not be the type of attention you'd want. I see some blue lights flashing.
I wonder if the person who made this sign drove to work drunk or got too drunk to spell while at work.

Check out the previous post dealing with this same mistake regarding the proper use of the cent sign and decimal point. This sign is on the same road as the other one. It is spreading!

It is spelled u-n-t-i-l. This one is on Highway 5 in Bryant, Arkansas.

**** This one was changed the day after I took this picture.

Where is the q? You can get a glimpse of this sign along Interstate 40 between Menifee and Conway, Arkansas.

Wow!! What a deal!! You can get a bag of ice for less than one penny at Burger King in Benton, Arkansas. If you use the decimal point, then you must use a dollar sign since the decimal point with the dollar sign means a fraction of a dollar. Using the decimal with the cent sign means a fraction of a cent.
There should be a space between ice and bags.

Another unnecessary apostrophe error plagues passersby.