I received a flier in my mailbox at work this week. The above image is the top 1/3 of it. Before reading any more than that (normally I'd be sold on "free dinner"), I growled aloud in my office. They're sending THAT out to EDUCATORS at a COLLEGE??????????? Where's the proof-reading? I could never bring myself to go to some sort of "educational workshop" where they can't seem to differentiate between PLURAL and POSSESSIVE.I thought about calling the reservation number and pointing that out to them. I thought about not doing that. Then I noticed that there was fine print beside the reservation phone number that said "24 hour automated message system" - perfect.
I called... and then, to my surprise, a human answered.
"Hello" he said
"Uh..." I replied and paused, "I'm not exactly calling to make a reservation - but ummm I guess I'm calling to be somewhat obnoxious"
"Okay" he replied somewhat hesitantly
"As an educator," I started, "I just wanted you folks to know that you have an error at the top of your flier - "educators" should be plural"
"I know," he said with the annoyance of someone who's already been called about this several times, "we used a comma"
"Actually," I said stifling an explosion of appalled laughter, "it's an apostrophe, and that's why I won't register for the workshop, but I hope you have a great day"
Then I hung up the phone and a little part of me died at my desk.
3 comments:
Ahhhh, Nat. you're lovely.
Thanks for doing that, and thanks for posting it. You made my day.
oh nat, too funny. you would fit into my family so well... i have had email's "fixed" and sent back to me by my sibling's... (added a few extra "comma's" (ha ha) in there for you)
-colleen
I am SO with you on this one! At my work, we need to have an in-service on the difference between possessive and plural, or I may have to kill someone! People tend to put up angry notes everywhere (another pet peeve) such as "BE QUIET PATIENT'S ARE SLEEPING!" and it just makes me want to be as loud as possible (sorry patients!) My 7th grade English teacher, who was a nut about grammar, left a huge impression on me.
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