Because what I witnessed yesterday was just too over-the-top egregious to ignore. I was innocently minding my own business in the front area of Harmon's, where they keep the grocery carts. I was waiting for a "car cart" for Shulamith's little boy, Swen. To say Swen is fond of cars (which he calls gawks) is a gross understatement; he is positively obsessed. He grows more delighted each new day than the one before with the number of gawks that exist in the world. They're everywhere!
So when grocery stores provide shopping carts that look like "gawks," oh the joy! That is, of course, if one is available. Sometimes they are all in use. This is not a good day. Swen refuses to ride in a shopping cart that is not a gawk. And who can blame him? I wouldn't either, if I loved gawks as much as he does. So sometimes we have to wait for a car cart (aka every parent's answer to keeping a toddler happy in a grocery store) to become available, which was the case yesterday. As we waited, I happened to glance upward where I saw this very large sign:
NO, I AM NOT KIDDING. I have not altered this photo. It really does look just like this. Blechhhhh!
Can we just take a step backward and focus our attention for one second on apostrophes? Generally, apostrophes do two things: create contractions and show possession. That's pretty much all. In the above phrase, I can't even tell for sure what the message is supposed to be. Is it "Kids AND carts"? Or "Kids IN Carts"? Impossible to tell. Apostrophes in contractions replace letters that have been left out. So if the folks who made this sign meant "and," then it should be 'N' with apostrophes to replace the "a" and the "d." If they meant "in," then it should be 'N, with the apostrophe to replace the "i." Either way, N' makes no sense and creates utter confusion.
Next we have apostrophes in the other two words: "kid's" and "cart's." Why do these words contain apostrophes? I haven't a clue. Apostrophes in nouns show possession or ownership, but in this case, neither of these nouns is possessing or owning anything. It makes me wonder if the sign maker paused and thought, "I haven't used an apostrophe in a while, so maybe I'll just add a couple here." It's that random!
By now I was about to have a meltdown right there in the grocery store, but Swen saved the day when, with anxious eyes and sheer exuberance, he exclaimed, "Big Gawk!" Indeed, one of those precious, sought-after car carts, a bright red one even, was right there in front of us. Into the gawk he went, and off we were to do our shopping.
But not before I took a picture to document this this atrocity and, of course, to serve as the foundation for yet another rhetoric rant.
I've seen this before. N is becoming the new quick, cutesy way of saying AND. It is just another example of the dumbing down of the English language.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what was going on with the apostrophe S business. Someone just doesn't know what they are doing. Did you mention it to the management?
ReplyDelete