# Shop sign's with apostrophe's. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 17, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686 "2008-05-17T21:16:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/81 "2008-05-19T18:43:51Z")
[QUOTE=VarlosZ] Actually, it _is_ acceptable to use an apostrophe before the ‘s’ in the plural noun “apostrophes.” Little known fact, but absolutely true; look it up. [/QUOTE] Next thing you’ll tell me is that the word “gullible” isn’t in the dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/82 "2008-05-20T01:13:58Z")
[QUOTE=bathsheba] My daughter’s name ends in ‘s’. Let’s say, for example, that it’s ‘Alexis’. Last Christmas my idiot MIL presented us with a nameplate which says “Alexi’s”. [/QUOTE] This is the funniest thing I’ve heard all week. ---
**Author:** ![Raspberry\_NOT\_Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Raspberry\_NOT\_Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raspberry_NOT_Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/83 "2008-05-20T07:08:16Z")
As well as being a shit name for a store, there’s a dress shop near me called DRESSY DRESS’S. Hah! I pointed out the error but they didn’t seem to care much, as they’d just had some stationary printed. ---
**Author:** ![Pithy\_Moniker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@Pithy\_Moniker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithy_Moniker)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/84 "2008-05-20T13:03:52Z")
I used to pass a place that had the following on a hand painted sign in front of their location. I wish I’d gotten a picture before he went out of business. MUD DAWGS KNIFES AND SAMURI SWORD’S ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/85 "2008-05-20T20:03:39Z")
[QUOTE=Raspberry, NOT Rhubarb] I pointed out the error but they didn’t seem to care much, as they’d just had some stationary printed. [/QUOTE] That’s “stationery”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/86 "2008-05-20T20:10:01Z")
Their stationery was stationary, so it couldn’t be modified. ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/87 "2008-05-21T00:49:11Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] > [@WhyNot](#): > > Wait, what? If John Robert runs a studio, that’s absolutely correct, isn’t it? Or was the guy’s name written as “John Roberts” elsewhere? It’s the ‘The’ that makes it weird. [/QUOTE] Not if the man believes that he is the original (and/or famous) John Robert. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/88 "2008-05-21T01:00:20Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] Obligatory link: > **[The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks](http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/)** > > misinterpreting bad punctuation since 2005 [/QUOTE] And another: [The Abuse Of Apostrophes In Everyday Life](http://u2019.blogspot.com/) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/89 "2008-05-21T05:12:26Z")
I know where all these superfluous apostrophe’s come from. They come from the word you’re when spelled your, which, in my horseback judgment, is the single most common spelling error on the internet. Now we have to figure out where the Es have gone. Surely there aren’t that many Ye Olde Superfluous E Shoppes out there… I have a sign story to tell as well, but it’s about spelling rather than apostrophe’s. A number of years ago, I lived in Hood River OR. Not too far from where I lived was a rather dispirited-looking building housing either 3 or 4 businesses. The place did not even deserve to be considered a shopping center, much less a mall. Nor did it deserve a sign the size of the one out by the road. Yet, there it was, maybe 20 to 25 feet high; letters a couple feet or so high. It said, and this is exactly how it was spelled: T’S MAUL ---
**Author:** ![Duhkecco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Duhkecco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duhkecco)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/90 "2008-05-21T13:49:11Z")
A few more at [The Apostrophe Protection Society](http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/examples_2.htm), including this one: ADULT VIDEO’S TOY’S MAG’S MODELS ESCORTS REQUIRED ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/91 "2008-05-21T13:56:42Z")
[QUOTE=Coil] Unneccessary apostrophes in signs bugs me as well. An extra problem around here is that it is not just signs in English that have them. Even signs in Swedish have them. This is even worse since Swedish does not use apostrophes at all. [/QUOTE] Same thing happens in Dutch, which does use apostrophes but not in the same way English does. Lots of people are using apostrophes now as if they were writing in English when they’re not. Drives me insane, both in the brain and in the membrane. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/92 "2008-05-21T14:49:59Z")
[QUOTE=Pithy Moniker] I used to pass a place that had the following on a hand painted sign in front of their location. I wish I’d gotten a picture before he went out of business. MUD DAWGS KNIFES AND SAMURI SWORD’S [/QUOTE] Two anecdotal examples of my own: 1. One of the hospitals I regularly run to in the ambulance has computer printed signs at the ER entrance we use stating that “unless the patient is critical, wait for the outer door’s (sic) to close before opening the the inner door’s (sic)”. The extraneous apostophes are circled on a regular basis and the signs given a failing grade for bad grammar. I wish I was the one who started doing this, but I’m not. Anyway, the marking and grading pisses off whoever posts the signs, who then reprints and reposts without editing. 1. This goes along with the quote above. I pass by a farm daily during my commute that has a hand painted sign advertising “POT-BELLIED PIG’S AND HOGES FOR SALE”… ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/93 "2008-05-22T13:23:07Z")
I remember seeing a neon sign that said “Taco’s” and below that “Burrito’s”… and I remember thinking… those those apostrophes themselves must be seperate tubes, right? That has to add some degree of complexity and costliness to the sign. Extra effort to be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/94 "2008-05-22T14:59:07Z")
[QUOTE=SenorBeef] I remember seeing a neon sign that said “Taco’s” and below that “Burrito’s”.. and I remember thinking.. those those apostrophes themselves must be seperate tubes, right? That has to add some degree of complexity and costliness to the sign. Extra effort to be wrong. [/QUOTE] Makes you wonder if the sign company tried to get the person who ordered it made to see reason. Sign stores should make incorrect apostrophes the most expensive character to use. Not just any apostrophes, as we’d then see “Joes Crab Shack”, but ones that the sign company deems incorrect. Either A, the customer would pay, ensuring the signmaker gets a nice little bonus off stupidity, or B, the customer would argue, and maybe learn something in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/95 "2008-05-22T15:06:55Z")
[QUOTE=Saltire] In the middle of the 20th century, the US Postal Service insisted on removing all apostrophes from place names, so that the little buggers wouldn’t confuse the magnetic ink readers. Since the USPS apparently gets the final authority on what places are called, this change has been universally accepted. [/QUOTE] Actually, the [Board on Geographic Names](http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?16065) has that authority in the United States, and they’ve been booting out apostrophes since 1894–giving us such anomalies as Harpers Ferry and Devils Tower. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/96 "2008-05-22T16:25:21Z")
I offer the possessive ‘Z’: Java Joe’z ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/97 "2008-05-22T16:38:46Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] I remember reading somewhere - might’ve been _Elements of Style_ but it might’ve been somewhere else - that you only spell out numbers if they begin a sentence. There are obviously opinions that go either way, like with many other style choices, which drops this one in the pile of things I can’t get worked up over. [/QUOTE] I’ve been looking around, but I can’t find a style guide that advocates spelling out numbers one through nine. The closest I could find for your rule says to spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence, but that’s in addition to the rule about spelling out single-digit numbers. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/98 "2008-05-22T18:52:49Z")
I think many of you are over-estimating the English skills of your average sign-maker. I work for a small printing company that makes signs (among many other things), and while my boss certainly knows the ins and outs of sign making, he’s complete shit when it comes to spelling. Several times a day, every day, he asks me how to spell something. Og knows what we’d send out if I weren’t here. I’ve also run in to situations where the specifications the customer gives us have a spelling/grammar error. Most of the time, I correct it when I’m laying out the design and mention it in passing when I show them the proof. This works for 90% of our customers. With certain customers, though, correcting their spelling and grammar isn’t worth the hassle. They don’t like to be corrected, they’re usually assholes anyway, they always specify the most atrocious designs, and at that point I consider it a sort of karmic retribution if there’s something like an extra apostrophe somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/99 "2008-05-22T19:35:41Z")
[QUOTE=The Weird One] I’ve also run in to situations where the specifications the customer gives us have a spelling/grammar error. Most of the time, I correct it when I’m laying out the design and mention it in passing when I show them the proof. This works for 90% of our customers. With certain customers, though, correcting their spelling and grammar isn’t worth the hassle. They don’t like to be corrected, they’re usually assholes anyway, they always specify the most atrocious designs, and at that point I consider it a sort of karmic retribution if there’s something like an extra apostrophe somewhere. [/QUOTE] I’ve always wondered how the mistakes get by on professional signs, because you know lots of people saw it before it was posted. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686/100 "2008-05-22T20:01:20Z")
[QUOTE=Elret] A bar nearby has their slogan emblazoned on several signs, their menu, the window, and a ton of advertising: “Alway’s a Good Time”. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Cunctator] Perhaps Miss Alway is one of the staff? [/QUOTE] Then it should have more properly been written on the men’s room wall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-signs-with-apostrophes/449686.md?page=6)