Updated--Would this punctuation bother you every time you drove by the sign?

[ElizabethB]

It annoys me, it bothers my daughter, my son doesn't understand what the problem is. It I some kind of advertising billboard. It has my current city name, but I will go with Gotham, here is what it would say if I lived in Gotham:

 

Making Gotham, happy.

 

Update:

 

I slowed down and figured out who the company was. It is a bank named "Happy State Bank." Still annoying, but more understandable.

[Guest]

Every single time I'd go nuts. That bugs. It's like a visual tic.

[Word Nerd]

Yes.

[ElizabethB]

I am annoyed enough to complain here and make a poll but not quite annoyed enough to complain to someone who may or may not want to fix their sign.

[MEmama]

Not only would I be annoyed with the sign, I would also be annoyed that I would have to launch into a grammar lesson every time we drove past the sign, and then I'd be annoyed that DS would get annoyed at the sign for being incorrect and loudly and incessantly proclaim his annoyance every time we drove past.

 

Ugh!

[Eagle]

Is it considered graffiti if you use paint to correct a grammatical mistake on a sign? Because I would be very tempted...

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I'm going to give you a list of words that you may put together, or not, as best pleases you:

 

paintbrush

go

black clothing

and

ladder

fix

can of paint

it

distraction

yourself

watch set to midnight

with

 

[Catwoman]

I'm going to give you a list of words that you may put together, or not, as best pleases you:

 

paintbrush

go

black clothing

and

ladder

fix

can of paint

it

distraction

yourself

watch set to midnight

with

I would like to second that suggestion. :)

[ElizabethB]

You can all come to a WTM get together in my neighborhood and we will have an evening activity! :)

[MiMi 4under3]

It annoys me, it bothers my daughter, my son doesn't understand what the problem is. It I some kind of advertising billboard. It has my current city name, but I will go with Gotham, here is what it would say if I lived in Gotham:

 

Making Gotham, happy.

 

Though extra commas aren't nearly as annoying as apostrophe's used to pluralize!  :lol:

[ElizabethB]

Though extra commas aren't nearly as annoying as apostrophe's used to pluralize! :lol:

Except it is on a giant billboard with giant lettering and we drive by it at least 3 times a week...

[Stacia]

So, who posted/sponsors the billboard?

 

I'm just trying to fathom the context/meaning! Lol.

[Cinder]

Yes. It would also annoy my sons who were raised on R&S English. :laugh:

[ElizabethB]

So, who posted/sponsors the billboard?

 

I'm just trying to fathom the context/meaning! Lol.

It is a most likely a local or regional company. I currently live in a town of around 100,000 in the South. I think it is healthcare or banking, we are a military family so I am not sure, but I have not heard of the company nationally.

 

My daughter thinks the same thing, she is not sure what or how or why that is a good message for the company, even if the grammar was correct.

[Slartibartfast]

I would write a humerous letter to the editor of the Gotham Gazette.

[mathmarm]

I'd probably have to call the company (or local paper) and complain. I'm sure that the argument can be made that the billboard is a disservice to the American youth who are subjected to rampant bufoonery and a distraction to the educated driver.

 

Awhile back there was a story in the news about a principal demoted and transferred over a misspelled sign at her high school.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Do you have a small town newspaper?  Take a picture of the sign and write a humorous rant about the bad grammar.  Is Happy making Gotham?  Did they put a comma instead of a period for a tweet from a building company?  Making Gotham.  Happy.  Is "making Gotham" a euphemism of something else that Happy is getting into?  Is someone telling Happy what they are doing?  Making Gotham, Happy.  Make some suggestions.  Happily making Gotham.   Look - an adverb!  Oh wait, could they possibly mean "Making Gotham happy?"  Perhaps the local school kids should diagram the sentence.  

[displace]

I looooooove commas and use them all the time erroneously. But,,, even I am confused on what the sign means!

[Slartibartfast]

You could probably post it to their facebook page.

[trulycrabby]

I think you should email this thread to the sign company so they will know that we are having fits over their sign.

[marbel]

It would bother me once, and then it would become invisible to me.

[ScoutTN]

Yes, it would bug me, but I am a grammar nerd.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Actually it would bother my kids more.  Not because of their innate love of grammar, but because every time we passed the sign I would go into my rant knowing that it would elicit a chorus of "Mom!" when I did so  :hat:  :D

[chocolatechip]

Yes, absolutely.  :svengo:

[Ewe Mama]

Make The Hive, happy...lose the comma!

[JustEm]

Hehe it reminds of this parks and rec scene

 

 

Later in the scene the main character has the sign errors fixed but the people who put it up end up installing it on the wrong side of the highway. So it's a welcome sign you see as you leave town

[KrissiK]

It would bother me every time, too! There's a billboard on a freeway I frequent that advertises a restaurant with a private "dinning room". It bothers me every time I see it. It makes me not want to go to the restaurant because why would I want to go to a place that can't spell?

[goldberry]

Every time.  Yes.

 

There was a local business that had a sign out front  "cheep wood".  Every time we drove by I would go "cheep, cheep" like a bird.  

[chocolatechip]

Every time.  Yes.

 

There was a local business that had a sign out front  "cheep wood".  Every time we drove by I would go "cheep, cheep" like a bird.  

That reminds me of an ad we saw while looking for used house remodeling parts:

 

Fur french doors. 

 

Yup, that's "fir," thank you very much. 

[LucyStoner]

Every time. Yes.

 

There was a local business that had a sign out front "cheep wood". Every time we drove by I would go "cheep, cheep" like a bird.

I'd assume they were referencing Calvin and Hobbes. Probably not, but why not assume something fun and interesting?

[Liz CA]

Climb up there and paint over it. You will be doing a lot of people a huge favor!  :)

[Susan in TN]

Climb up there and paint over it. You will be doing a lot of people a huge favor! :)

Yes, this must be done for the sake of humanity.

 

And as for poll option #4 - are you trying to start a riot? Get us all banned? I think I'm coming down with a nervous tic.

[KungFuPanda]

Wait, is the name of the town Sad or Unhappy? In this case the comma might be there to avoid confusion. Have we tracked your location to Miserable, Kentucky?

[justkeepswimming]

Though extra commas aren't nearly as annoying as apostrophe's used to pluralize!  :lol:

 

Especially at tattoo shop's! A neon sign that says: Tattoo's here! And another in the window: Awesome tattoo's by Ross!

 

Argh!! Make's me crazy. I point it out to the kid's every single time we drive by. They previously didn't care about the stupid sign's on the tattoo shop window's, but since I launch into grammar lesson's every time we pass the sign's... they sure care now! :lol:

 

 

Another that bugs are two competing tailor shops across the street from one another. One has a huge sign that says TAILOR. The other has a huge sign that says TAYLOR. :mellow:  :svengo:

 

How, just HOW, can people not know how to spell the thing that IS THEIR VOCATION!  It is their JOB to do this thing. It is what pays the bills!! How can you misspell something that important to your day-to-day life?? It mystifies me. And how the sign makers didn't catch those misspellings is beyond me. I purposefully take a different route and try to not pass these shops, because the temptation to go inside the TAYLOR shop and ask them if they are even aware that their sign is misspelled grows stronger with every drive-by.

[IsabelC]

Are you sure that the Taylor tailor isn't actually called Mr. or Ms. Taylor? Because then that would be cute instead of lamentable.

 

 

The fur doors sound quite good. Might be chic leopard skin print, or maybe genuine bear fur, nice and thick to aid in sound proofing?

[justkeepswimming]

Are you sure that the Taylor tailor isn't actually called Mr. or Ms. Taylor? Because then that would be cute instead of lamentable.

 

I wish!  :p  The actual name of the business is different, the taylor sign is an additional one explaining the various services they offer in said establishment. :001_smile:

[Ausmumof3]

I keep wondering if there is some kind of fun meaning that they are getting at with the weird comma that isn't coming across right. Otherwise... Why? How could they not know?

[Guest flehunseos]

I would also be annoyed that I would have to launch into a grammar lesson every time we drove past the sign

[MEmama]

We have a stand nearby that sells Lobester. I mean, huh? People come here from all over the world for the state's most famous seafood, you can't go anywhere without seeing the word...why oh why the extra e?! How does no one FIX it?!

[Muttichen]

It would bother me every time, too! There's a billboard on a freeway I frequent that advertises a restaurant with a private "dinning room". It bothers me every time I see it. It makes me not want to go to the restaurant because why would I want to go to a place that can't spell?

 

BUT -- is it a Chinese restaurant????  Dh and I choose Chinese restaurants based on their grammar, the worse the grammar, the better the food.  

 

[gardenmom5]

Eagle, on 12 Mar 2015 - 5:04 PM, said:

Is it considered graffiti if you use paint to correct a grammatical mistake on a sign? Because I would be very tempted...

yes. 

 

a few years back it made the news when a woman corrected the grammar on a sign and she was *arrested* for graffiti.

[Hwin]

"If it flys or drives, we'll take it!" 

[gardenmom5]

chocolatechip, on 12 Mar 2015 - 9:16 PM, said:

That reminds me of an ad we saw while looking for used house remodeling parts:

 

Fur french doors. 

 

Yup, that's "fir," thank you very much. 

no no no.  they're soft, warm, and fuzzy French doors.

[gardenmom5]

the fastest way to get it fixed might be to take a picture, circle the offending comma - and send it off to the tonight show for the sign mocking segment.  (do they still do that?)

[8circles]

I'll dissent.  I know exactly what they mean and how to read it in my head.  :D  I kinda like it.

 

Yes, I'd discuss how it's is incorrect grammar, but it wouldn't bother me beyond that.

[Word Nerd]

I'll dissent.  I know exactly what they mean and how to read it in my head.   :D  I kinda like it.

 

 

Care to explain it to the rest of us? The comma is completely nonsensical and random, so I haven't the slightest idea what they mean. 

[KrissiK]

BUT -- is it a Chinese restaurant???? Dh and I choose Chinese restaurants based on their grammar, the worse the grammar, the better the food.

It's a coffee shop, for crying out loud.

[plansrme]

It would bother me so much that I would have to change my route and not drive by it any more.

[beaners]

Care to explain it to the rest of us? The comma is completely nonsensical and random, so I haven't the slightest idea what they mean.

I think it's supposed to read with a pause between the "making Gotham" and "happy." They are helping develop the city and making it a happier place at the same time? I think I'd prefer the same words without the comma but with the happy in a different color than the first two words, assuming that is their intent. (Now I'm looking at every comma and wondering if it belongs there. I'm a recovering comma-scatterer myself.)

[ikslo]

Is it a Rightmove add?  Don't they do something with "happy"?