QUESTION FOR MISTER LANGUAGE PERSON

Diverdowndoc sends the photo below and asks: "Is this Official North Florida restroom sign correct?"

The answer is: Yes, that is correct in north Florida, at least in those areas where they have indoor plumbing.

Comments

[Mahatma Kane Jeeves]

Missing "them"

[pogo]

Is the "Employee's" a contraction or is it possessive?

[Shark Tooth John]

This sign is meaningless. It infers that contracted and possessed employee's' were at work before and intend to return to work after .... whatever it was he/she/it/they may or may not have been doing in between.

[diverdowndoc]

I forgot to include my name!! That was me, diverdowndoc!!

[Mahatma Kane Jeeves]

And for the kids you should have a scaf . . .

[mommysaurus]

I don't not see nuthing wrong their.

[AmerInParis]

Eeeeeeek!! Run! Flee!

Glad to know that I still notice those things, though, after spending years reading franglais.

If ONLY I could get the French to understand that it's information, not informations!

And that in English we do NOT put a space before : or ! or ?

[AmerInParis]

"Missing "them"

Posted by: Mahatma Kane Jeeves | 09:09 AM on December 13, 2007"

Well-spotted! I can hear my southern relatives saying "Wash them thar hands right this minute!"

[Bob]

I see the problem. Unnecessary use of an "!"
That is all too common around here.

Bob
Jacksonville, FL!

[queensbee]

the language Po-leece should pay those folk's a visit, over their in northern fla. when you are pres. dave, the language po-leece should rule. and why dont we ever see you on any of the 'debates' with the other candidates, eh??? they're afraid of you....

[yoigle]

Looks like their Boss is trying to CON workers into thinking--- they don't have a SH'TTY job.

[Mahatma Kane Jeeves]

This means that is the must of the employees to wash . . . ah, fuhgeddaboutit!

[Yasmin]

I say the Kingsmans version is the best.

What? We're done blogging about that? Oh. Sorry, their's no excuse for that.

[Recovering 24 Addict]

It is obvious to that the person who wrote that sign went to school here and did their post grad work here.

GO HUSKIES!!!

[Betsy]

If they wanted to go for a trifecta, they could put MUST in quotation marks for emphasis.

[Recovering 24 Addict]

throws a me up to myself

[daisymae]

That picture looks like a mug shot. Who got arrested?

[diverdowndoc]

*snork* at Betsy

[Annie Where-but-here]

grrrr.....grrrr....skroll down to pikshur.....grrrrr.

[russellmc]

Werewolf?...

There wolf.....

[Esther]

Is anyone else getting flagged by the bot?

[Not My Usual Alias]

Thankfully, most of the "employee's" are actually contract workers. The "there" there is moot.

I would love to see what the menu says.

[Siouxie]

Annie, I'm always participanting. Mostly when I watch p0rn artsy films.

This was in Jacksonville, right??

[JugglerOfGeese]

Igor, would you give me a hand with the bags?
[doing a Groucho Marx] Certainly, you take the blonde and I'll take the one in the turban.

*Link omitted due to bot assuming it is spam

[KDF]

I saw this baby in T@rget about a week ago. I have calmed down slightly since first seeing it, due to recovery time, sleep and consumption of alcohol, but I'm still twitching a little, just thinking about it.

*proffread's proofreads*

*makes more Starbucks Christmas Blend and resumes online holiday shopping*

[JugglerOfGeese]

I am, Esther. For some reason the bot hates me.
*Gorrammit, this is not spam.*

[diverdowndoc]

I always loved that one, Annie!! BTW, my aunt thinks you are hilarious, too!

[yoigle]

Friday 12:01 AM here in Aussie. Just saw Russell Crowe on--- David Letterman SHOW.--- Russ behaved himself (phew) but he only chucks telephones (when he has a wobbly )--so I suppose there was no worry about him picking up the microphone.--- Good thing cause Dave is adept at handling that pencil.

[KDF]

Annie, about your link - *SNORNK*

That is priceless, and I LOVE that you kept the original certificate (or as my daughter spells it, "sirtifikit")

[Siouxie]

KDF, I feel your pain. That is unbelievable.

[daisymae]

KDF - when my kids were in school, we had a third grade teacher write a letter (can't even remember what it was for). The spelling and grammar were so bad we couldn't use it.

[Annie Where-but-here]

KDF - in this case, assault on an apostrophe would have been justified. But I would've bought the dang thing for the principal who signed my son's spelling bee certificate. Maybe I'll go shopping today for it. ;)

private note to DDD - thank you - I posted a comment on your blog thanking your aunt. I'll send you the link when my column comes out.

[diverdowndoc]

I can't wait to read it! Congrats!!

BTW- she said it again- just wanted you to know.

[queensbee]

there's a wonderful book, came out a couple years ago: Eats, Shoots and Leaves. cant think of the author's name, you can google it - Lynn somebody. anyway, she's a wily brit and very bold! she would go into stores which had poorly written signs, and let them know... and correct them. I would LOVE to do that!!

[crossgirl]

wut? of course this is the official north florida sign, albeit, it's supposed to have pictures for those who can't read. if it were the south florida sign, it would be in spanish.

[Siouxie]

crossgirl, si.

[Siouxie]

I see a typo. It's warsh, not wash. geez.

[Eleanor]

*zips in*™

queensbee, I have that book. It 's excellent. Author is Lynne Truss. She wrote another one: Talk to the Hand, which is amusing, but not as good as the first one, IMO.

[diverdowndoc]

So, as I understand it now the sign should read:

EMPLOYEE'S
"Must" warsh them there hands
before returning to work.

Right?

[Bãrön vønKlýff]

ddd... you spelled 'there' rong. It shood be 'thar.' And it shood be spelled werk, to.

[diverdowndoc]

EMPLOYEE'S
"Must" warsh them thar hands
before returning to werk.

[Annie Where-but-here]

Baron - did all that ther misspellin' help you get past the bot?

[Annie Where-but-here]

So just their hands are going back to work? Not their brains, obviously.

[DeskDiva]

qb - I bought that for my mom for Christmas. It's great!

[Siouxie]

ddd, I beleif that before should be espelled...befer anyone??

[Bãrön vønKlýff]

AWbh... Bot? Whut Bot?

*ducks*

[Bãrön vønKlýff]

AWbh... Bot? Whut Bot?

*ducks*

[Bãrön vønKlýff]

AWbh... bot? Whut bot?

*ducks*

...Well, duckin' din't werk. Got Bot Focked on this one.

[Bãrön vønKlýff]

AWbh... bot? Whut bot?

*ducks*

...Well, duckin' din't werk. Got Bot Focked on this one.

[Bãrön vønKlýff]

AWbh... bøt? Whüt bøt?

*dúx*

...Well, dückîn' dîn't werk. Got Bõt Fôcked on this one.

[Meditrina]

diver, where is the expanded photo journal? You've been home for days....! ;-P

[Edgar Greenberg]

That has to be a joke. No one is stupid enough to make two grammatical errors on one sign.

[diverdowndoc]

Hiya Med!!
Check my site and look at the left column towards the bottom under translation. They are all up now. And I got home yesterday!!

Siouxie- beefer? that sounds like a certain jailbird...

Edgar. I took the picture- it is real.

[KOW]

Aside from the superfluous apostrophe, it should be written 'them there hands'. Also 'work' needs to be replaced with 'stand by the water cooler' or 'surf the internet'.

[klezmerphan]

Now wait jest a durn minnut hear... ain't it suppose a be "hand's" to match "employee's" fer goshsakes?

[KOW]

Okay, that comment took forever to get around the bot. Is there anyone else on the bot's naughty list? Anyone else getting the bot coal for the season? Who's bringing the lighter fluid?

*shakes fist at bot, prepares to beg for permission to post this rant*

[Edgar Greenberg]

I want believe you ddd, but it seems a bit farfetched.

[Siouxie]

ddd, Beefer Sutherland??

*smacks Edgar for calling ddd a fibber*

That's her ghostly reflection on the picture, silly!

[diverdowndoc]

Many things happen in Florida that no one would believe.

[Shart Tooth John]

All y'all are missin the spellin of "han's". Ya gots "werk" n "thar" n stuff. wazzupwiddat?

[Siouxie]

After the 4th try and changing the post around, I've forgotten what I was going to say...it was something like this:

*What happens in Florida, stays in Florida.*

What part of this is SP@M????

[Edgar Greenberg]

"That's her ghostly reflection on the picture, silly!"

Hmm, so it is. I suppose some people are just dumb.

[Howard from Broward]

Shark tooth: The sign implies. You infer.

[Edgar Greenberg]

The dumb people being the sign writers, not diverdowndoc, who clearly isn't.

[Siouxie]

Good think you clarified that, Edgar. I was about to smack ya again. ;-)

[sean]

"there hands" can be rearranged as "nether dash", which is significant,because "nether dash" would make a great name for a rock band

[sean]

moreover it should be "there hand's"

[Annie Where-but-here]

*smacks Edgar anyway*

[Alien8]

It's called the "Grocer's Apostrophe" after the most frequent abusers. Frankly, I hate to see evidence of poor reading skills among people who cook and store food.

[Annie Where-but-here]

um, if more than one grocer abused an apostrophe, shouldn't it be called the Grocers' apostrophe'?

[Hammond Rye]

Baby steps, people! First, you walk upright. Next, you stop mating with your nearest relatives. After that, you get employed. Soon thereafter, you learn about indoor plumbing. Eventually you learn about hygeine, such as handwashing and brushing your tooth. Proper punctuation and spelling will eventually arrive.

[Siouxie]

*WAVES @ Hammie and gives him the i befer e SMACK*

off to lunch!

[diverdowndoc]

We have a lot of people in Georgia who are still struggling with step 2.

[Cheesewiz]

At least the sign doesn't say "Employee's Must Wash There Hands After Returning to Work!"

[JEC666]

As for the child's scaf; they froze their "r's"off in Michigan.

[AmerInParis]

But then there would be an apostrophe for each grocer who abused, so then wouldn't it be "grocers' apostrophes"? And then, each apostrophe would have a grocer abusing it. Oh, and some grocers might be serial apostrophe abusers (or abusers of apostrophes, just to be clear on our plurals), so then you'd have apostrophes' grocers...

My head is starting to spin with nonsense and apostrophes ...must be time to go home!

[DeskDiva]

*WAVES @ HAMMIE!!!*

I haven't been here much in the mornings lately, so I've missed you. Hope you're (not your) still here!

[diverdowndoc]

I have to go nap to prepare for my overnight shift- have fun without me!!

[Edgar Greenberg]

Annie, it is in fact called the Grocers' Apostrophe, but it doesn't have to be. It is Baker's Dozen. It just depend on whether each individual grocer is being criticized or all grocers as a whole.

[DeskDiva]

Sleep tight, ddd!

[Edgar Greenberg]

Could've sworn I wrote "Depends."

[Siouxie]

*smoochies, ddd!*

[Hammond Rye]

*Waves @ Siouxie!!!*

*Waves @ DeskDiva!!!*

*Quietly tucks in DDD and tiptoes out...*

[Shark Tooth John]

Howie tB,
Y'all figgered that out on yer own, didja?

[gjd]

I've had an epiphany that the misplaced apostrophe is nothing short of a catastrophe.

[gjd]

ddd, you should capitalize the "b" in before b/c it is at the beginning of a line.

[chaz]

there is a sign in coconut grove that says "no rite turn"...i think english should be a recquistion for a sign ordering job

[Annie Where-but-here]

or a 'wreckquisition.'

[queensbee]

no rite turn, eh?? meaning church stuff has to stay in the center isle [nave]??? that one's confusing. and thanks for the name of the writer on the grammar book. it is a doozy. and ddd - i thought they only said 'warsh' in warshington dc.

[tinkerbell]

I'm enjoying this thread and feeling less alone with my spelling OCD. Thanks.

[KDF]

Tink, it's comforting to find your own people, isn't it? Yes. :)

[Annie Where-but-here]

If we give in on misspellings, the squirrel-terrorists win.

[Cheesewiz]

could they be squirrelorists?

[PirateBoy]

I gave up fighting spelling wars when a gas station had "Happy Holilidays" printed on their window, in gold letters. When I pointed it out to the clerk, he shrugged and said "Isn't that the way it is spelled?"

But what about "Text mail" writing? Does seeing "D00d!" and "We R BBF!" bother anyone else as much as it does me?

I'll be going now. I feel a spell coming on.

[KDF]

PB, whtevr r u tlking abt?

*self-snork*

Sorry, that was just mean. :)

[Annie Where-but-here]

*self-snorking* in pubic? Please, get a rheume.

[KDF]

Oops! Please exsneeze my inphlegmmatory manners.

[DeskDiva]

KDF - idk. he gts so wrkd up ovr nthng.

(OK. It was almost PAINFUL to type that.)

[Siouxie]

Oh loook! a new thread-------->

[technut]

ok, newbie here (sorry)...wut's a bot?