Teach 'em proper when they're young, I says.

Bufty · Oct 5, 2009

Self-explanatory message from my daughter-in law:-

I thought you'd appreciate this, having reviewed and spell-checked dozen of submissions on AbsoluteWrite over the years... ... Thomas ( he's 9 months now) has a couple of new packs of pyjamas because he's getting a bit big for his old sleepsuits now, or at least, too tall for them. He proudly wore the first pair last night, which we bought in Asda. They look very cute, if a bit roomy (age 2-3 is about right to give him some chance of them lasting a couple of months!) and he seemed nice and comfortable in them.

I think it was about 2am that I was sleepily cuddling him back to sleep, and properly looked at the writing on them. How many checks must they have gone through, at a rough guess? I'd hazard a guess at several hundred if you include the initial design stage, the printers, the sewing and stitching factory, the people who test them for wear and tear, the sellers, the shopkeepers... you can't tell me that nobody at all noticed, if I managed to at stupid-o'clock with my eyes half shut.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! He's going to wear those for months, and I'll notice it every single bloody time.

Attaching a photo of him about ten minutes ago wearing them, and a close up so you can easily see the writing.

love Michelle xxx

5thOct_Thomas_misspeltPJs_1.jpg"][COLOR=

5thOct_Thomas_misspeltPJs_2.jpg"][COLOR=

ETA - Made in China -but everyone in the chain can't be Chinese, surely.

CaroGirl · Oct 5, 2009

He's a real cutie pie!! But that writing, oy! I think I'd die a little every time I had to look at that. What a shame.

Maryn · Oct 5, 2009

He is indeed adorable--but those jammies (parody of The Simpsons ahead) make Baby Jesus cry.

It proves I'm a total word geek, but this made me proud: When our kids were in third and fourth grades respectively, I bought a car. They came with us when Mr. Maryn drove me to pick it up. The dealership's owner dismissed the salesman we'd dealt with, and asked us if any aspect of the car buying experience could have been improved. Had the salesman been too pushy, or too hands-off? Had he known the answers to all our questions? Was the lot organized in a way that made it easy to view the cars? Was the showroom perfect?

At which point our younger child, who'd recently turned eight, announced that the words painted on the window glass were full of mistakes. There was no apostrophe in truck's or Caravan's. His older sister, who was and is shy, added that the few that were possessive and should have an apostrophe were all plural possessives, the apostrophes in the wrong place.

It's damned hard to make a car salesman blush.

Maryn, proud mommy

Mr Flibble · Oct 5, 2009

My husband is now very surreptitious about getting out his Blake's Seven DVDs to watch. Because I can't look at the original logo without saying 'You know, should be an apostrophe in there. Tut tut BBC'

dpaterso · Oct 5, 2009

Is there a "Made in..." label? Rogue apostrophe's

might have slipped past the translator unnoticed.

@IRU, I can't bring myself to talk about Blake's 7 without sobbing uncontrollably, not since Soolin bought the farm, worst day of my life.

-Derek

stormie · Oct 5, 2009

First I wanted to hug that little boy--so cute! Then I lauhged. You're right--how many people looked at it in the entire start-to-finish manufacturing process? As dpaterso said, you never know. She should check the "made in" label.

And as Maryn said, I pass by so many businesses where their signs are in some way destroying the language either in spelling or grammar.

~*Kate*~ · Oct 5, 2009

He is adorable.

I told my 3yr old the other day, "We're cookin' now!" and he turned to me very seriously and said, "Cook-ING. There's a G on the end." Then he thought for a minute and said, "A silent G."

Maryn · Oct 5, 2009

Kate, it must be my day for cute-kids-with-language-skills. When our son was around three, I pulled the tab on a can of Coke and it came off without opening the can. "Uh-oh," I said to our son, "my Coke is broke."

He gave me the patented withering stare which morphed into delight. "Your Coken is broken."

Maryn, who'll stop now, really

ishtar'sgate · Oct 5, 2009

Although the writing on the pjs makes my eyes cross, your grandson is a darling. What a sweet looking little guy. You're so-o-o lucky. Frustrated NONgrandmother here. Can you tell?

TheIT · Oct 5, 2009

Very cute (the grandson, not the pajamas

).

The pajamas remind me of the "PRINESS" coffee mugs I spotted in an overstock store. Must have been about a dozen of them, all with the same misspelling stamped into the clay.

And I'm still waiting for Blake's 7 to be available in Region 1 DVDs. Avon & Vila, my heroes.

Tressa · Oct 5, 2009

He's a cutie! The pajamas would have to go.

Kitty Pryde · Oct 5, 2009

That's awful! And yes, your grandson is adorable. He looks like a little guy who is ready for anything

Flickr has an entire pool of photos dedicated to the grocers' apostrophe: http://www.flickr.com/groups/77173807@N00/pool/
And it has it's own blog

http://www.apostropheabuse.com/ You should submit those jammies!

~*Kate*~ · Oct 5, 2009

Maryn said:
Kate, it must be my day for cute-kids-with-language-skills. When our son was around three, I pulled the tab on a can of Coke and it came off without opening the can. "Uh-oh," I said to our son, "my Coke is broke."

He gave me the patented withering stare which morphed into delight. "Your Coken is broken."

Maryn, who'll stop now, really

That's too funny.

Half of my Twitter feed is just random funny stuff my kid says. Super exciting to follow, I know, but it's a quick way to get it down for posterity. Periodically I copy them all into a PDF, since my attempts at keeping a baby book = FAIL.

aadams73 · Oct 5, 2009

~*Kate*~ said:
I told my 3yr old the other day, "We're cookin' now!" and he turned to me very seriously and said, "Cook-ING. There's a G on the end." Then he thought for a minute and said, "A silent G."

Maryn said:
Kate, it must be my day for cute-kids-with-language-skills. When our son was around three, I pulled the tab on a can of Coke and it came off without opening the can. "Uh-oh," I said to our son, "my Coke is broke."

He gave me the patented withering stare which morphed into delight. "Your Coken is broken."

Now those are some smart kids!

My mother loves to tell the tale of me as a young lass of just a couple of years or so. A man came up to us with his dog and said to me, "Look at the doggie!"

I started him in the eye and said, "That's not a doggie, that's a dog."

My parents didn't believe in baby-talk.

Bufty, your little guy is adorable! But those pajamas have got to go.

The Lonely One · Oct 5, 2009

That baby's cute's!

benbradley · Oct 5, 2009

I'd return it and complain.

No, not the baby (or is it officially a "toddler" by now?), the shirt.

It would depend in the baby's disposition whether I would return it.

Matera the Mad · Oct 5, 2009

omfg

nice beeb

Pepper · Oct 6, 2009

This thread is making me laugh so hard. Only on a writer's forum do you see threads like this.

1) That kid is cute- DAMN cute! =^_^=
2) Maryn I love your stories
3) If I ever have a kid, I'm totally teaching them everything I know about writing as soon as they're born so I can have cute-brainy-kid stories too.

Maryn · Oct 6, 2009

Pepper, our kids were mortified in their school years when a friend used their bathroom, because there were ever-changing 'fact sheets' about language and occasionally math taped near the sink or toilet.

Of course, unlike many of their peers, they know its vs. it's cold, and when to hyphenate a compound adjective, and binary numbers, and poetic feet and rhyme schemes...

Maryn, who wished she could have shared a second language

CaroGirl · Oct 6, 2009

Maryn said:
Pepper, our kids were mortified in their school years when a friend used their bathroom, because there were ever-changing 'fact sheets' about language and occasionally math taped near the sink or toilet.

Of course, unlike many of their peers, they know its vs. it's cold, and when to hyphenate a compound adjective, and binary numbers, and poetic feet and rhyme schemes...

Maryn, who wished she could have shared a second language

Yeah. My kids know stuff like the difference between a simile and a metaphor, and what alliteration and onomatopoeia are (we make a game of coming with onomatopoeic words when travelling in the car). It's only a matter of time before their peers twig to their word-geekiness.

Ah well. I care's not.

pink lily · Oct 6, 2009

Ooh Bufty. Cute baby. You should submit those pics to Apostrophe Abuse.

Also check out some of their linked sites, such as The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks and Literally, A Web Log.

seun · Oct 7, 2009

I've been trying to think of people I know outside of AW who would realise what's wrong with the writing and would care.
I haven't come up with a long list of people.

Kitty Pryde · Oct 12, 2009

Just popping my head in to say that yesterday I saw a really cute little girl wearing a t-shirt with a monkey eating ice cream and a caption that proudly proclaimed "Bobby Jack's Ice Cream Palor". I had to do a double take. Yeah, when I eat ice cream, I tend to get an unhealthy "palor" as well...The clothing design department needs an editor!

maestrowork · Oct 12, 2009

I learned to spell "mountain" when I was 3 years old (I'm Chinese). That forever warped my brain. It was worse than crack.

Wayne K · Oct 12, 2009

I've seen worse. I saw a sign over a deli that probably cost a few grand that said Ham Burgers. The other is my favorite, it was a mass produced metal sign for hot dog vendors who sell Chilly Dogs.

Teach 'em proper when they're young, I says.

Where have the last ten years gone?

Living the dream

I Tried

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

storm central

brings the random.

I Tried

living in the past

Infuriatingly Theoretical

Writer in hiding

i luv you giant bear statue

brings the random.

A Work in Progress

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

It's a doggy dog world

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

I IS PRANCING

I Tried

Living the dream

I regret everything

Horror Man

i luv you giant bear statue

Fear the Death Ray