You’ve got to wonder what is going to become of us all when you see signs like the one I did today at the Trash and Treasure market:
Oh sure, it’s easy to transpose letters… however, when you see the same mistake on three handwritten signs in the same stall, you begin to suspect that the author might not know how to spell the word “Videos”.
Scary stuff. The market never fails to live down to my expectations. There are some creepy people out there…
Uh … why do you equate an inability to spell words properly with “creepy people”, cazzle?
Where I come from, it can be down just as much to English being a second language as anything else.
There are both those who can’t spell AND creepy people there, Icewolf. And the stallholder turned out to be my brother’s friend’s father. I can assure you that English is his first and only language.
When I mention the creepy people, specifically I’m thinking of some I saw there last time. Kids with those mullets where the hair is clipped all over to a number one or two, with the very back left long - why would anyone do that to their child? It screams “Hi! We’re trash!”. A “band” that consisted of two teens, a guitar, a microphone and some way off-key singing. A stall that had very obviously been urinated on sometime between when we passed it arriving and when we passed it leaving, to the total unconcern of the stall holder. Some very strange, smelly and obnoxious types frequent this market. I just wish I’d taken notes because not matter how I try to remember them, I seem to quickly block the more colourful memories.
Ah. Nuff said, then.
That doesn’t beat the flier that got circulated around my college last year. One of the smarter kids (!!!) on campus printed up a bunch of advertisements for an upcoming event, and stuck up hundreds of them all over campus without noticing any spelling errors. So everywhere you went, you saw big white signs alerting you to a
Femism and Fraternity Disucussion
I still have one of them. It’s so great.
Having English as a sceond language isn’t necessarily an excuse.
I’m hopeless with languages, and have a lot of respect and sympathy for people who find themselves in a new land, and have to learn one. There’s no shame in these guys’ spelling not being A1. However, it amazes me when people can’t spell the basic products sold in a business they’ve owned for years, sometimes decades. Greengrocers come to mind as a prime example (“Bannanas”, “Apels”, etc)
At Melbourne Central train station, there were a series of advertisements promoting Melbourne Central. One of them had a picture of a snappily dressed man walking and the slogan “Your heading in the right direction.”
When I was there a week later, the ad had been changed to include the correct spelling. I was ever so disappointed.
The official College Board notice I received for the SAT:
“Reprot to cafertia”
(Report to cafeteria)
C’mon…a little bit of spell check, please?
It was not fixed the second time I took the test.
I had doubts about my choice of university when I noticed printed signs in the dorm elevator advertising a lecture on “Earthquakes and Trimmers.”
The signs that make me wonder are the ones that advertise a product for .75 cents - which, in case you didn’t notice, was 3/4 of one cent.
“Bannanas: .75c/lb.”
Wow, so I can get a pound of these mysterious “bannanas” for less than a penny?
Of course, most people overlook the error; I, on the other hand, nitpick to whomever I can. 
-Dirty
Our high school football team published a “game plan” each week with the strategy for that game, and a snappy slogan meant to inspire (“Leave No Regrets on the Field”, “Revenge Time”) etc. But the one we all remember:
:: puts hand up - I plead guilty your honour ::
I got caught out making stupid spelling mistakes last week and by the time it was noticed the leaflet had been printed and mailed out to 500 people.
Oh the shame.
In my defense they were not major errors; I had spelt meters rather than metres and center rather than centre. I blame the computer spell checker which uses American rather than Australian English.
I’m an absolute jerk… I frequent a local diner that puts the daily specials up on a whiteboard in the entry foyer.
Most weeks, one or two of the lunch specials involve a Caesar salad.
Oops, the inventor was Cesare Cardini (supposedly), but the restaurant always spells it “ceasar”. I add the improper Latin spelling. Every weekend. You’d think they’d take the hint.
I like the whole idea that quotes can be used merely for emphasis.
*Cann’s Furniture Emporium is ‘Going Out Of Business’
We Are Having A ‘Sale!’
‘Everything’ Must Go!*
What’s the deal with that?
People have mentioned the quotation marks thing a lot, but I must admit I’ve never seen it. I also don’t live in a (very) large city, so maybe as the population increases, the average IQ decreases 
Heck, look at my posts, I have no concept of spelling or grammar.
And they let me play with viruses!
Oh wait, I already scare everyone 