Sunday, March 18, 2012

That's taking it just a bit too far.

It's a fact that 98% of Americans really suck at grammar. Improper use of the apostrophe seems to be the worst offender. In fact, there are whole blogs dedicated to the topic. I admit that it does irk me when I see an obvious mistake but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Apparently there are some in B'more who feel differently and they decided to take to the streets (a.k.a. the St. Patrick's Day parade) to express their displeasure.


  I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the vibe from the crowd was one of general disinterest. After marching bands, Irish dancing troupes and the Mummers string bands, no one could figure out who these people were, why they were in the parade, and why they didn't at least bring some candy to throw out in the crowd. It was a silent, awkward few minutes until they passed.

In case you're as confused as I was, turns out these people were protesting the fact that the names listed on their licenses read, for example, as "OMalley" instead of "O'Malley", which probably only affects this troupe of people plus a handful of others. I also have a feeling that the missing apostrophe isn't due to some MVA rule against them, but rather the fact that the woman typing your name into the computer probably has four inch nails with dangling charms. Just be glad it's spelled right.


Hey, and while they're at it, maybe they should really be protesting that whole "O's" thing. Why they're using that as an example of "good apostrophe usage" I'll never know.

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