Groundspeak Portal

Just tossing this out for chewing, how's about a Waymarking Game or Sign category for signs that contain typographical errors and grammatical errors?

I don't have any images to share in demonstration but I can give you a couple examples. The town of Hazleton, PA is spelled incorrectly. It's become an accepted misspelling. The original fire truck in Rensselaer, IN has the town's name spelled wrong. An ex-boyfriend's father owned a karaoke bar and one of his window decals was a motto that had an incorrectly positioned apostrophe.

My preference would be for instances that are visitable so there'd be some amount of permanence to them... but those are details. I'd like to get some discussion on the concept first and then we'll see if it's worth going deeper.

The category Unusual Signs  seems to have some of what you are talking about.

I'd always understood that category to be for unintentional puns and signs that end up just sounding or looking funny. I'm glad to see that it incorporates quite a bit, including what I've suggested above. Thanks, Bruce!

Redneck Parrotheads:

I'd always understood that category to be for unintentional puns and signs that end up just sounding or looking funny. I'm glad to see that it incorporates quite a bit, including what I've suggested above. Thanks, Bruce!

There is another category just to confuse things for the the unintentional   Unintentionally Funny Signs

*nods* Another category handling similiar signs and allowing cross-referencing would cause too many to get the vapors.

There's always the possibility the typo could be fixed. I'm guessing a few small-business owners might view people stopping to photograph their sign/typo as a bad thing.

What if they don't realise it's a typo? Then the business owner is just excited that their business has so much interest!

Redneck Parrotheads:

What if they don't realise it's a typo? Then the business owner is just excited that their business has so much interest!

Jake39:

Redneck Parrotheads:

What if they don't realise it's a typo? Then the business owner is just excited that their business has so much interest!

That made me LOL hard. I don't know why.

It was pointed out to me off-forum that there's a perspective to this that sits outside the scope of existing categories, such as the plethora of locations that intentionally misspell on signs. It allows the Oops but also brings in some Grammar Nannyism*. It'd be interesting to see such instances in languages that aren't English. I don't know... the suggestion really took the concept to a different level for me.

 

* See how I just made up a word?

There's a local gas station here with signs on each pump declaring that "these pumps do not except debit cards" right there by the number pad and the card swipe.  The station owners could not figure out why people kept trying to use a debit card and punch a pin number. 

I think a grammatical ignorance category could be fun.

Could this fall under the new Human Error category also?

I've long thought about having a category specifically for signs with misplaced apostrophes.  But not all that seriously

Team Sieni:

Could this fall under the new Human Error category also?

No, not at all.

The Human Error category is for construction and engineering failures.

yramc600:

There's a local gas station here with signs on each pump declaring that "these pumps do not except debit cards" right there by the number pad and the card swipe.  The station owners could not figure out why people kept trying to use a debit card and punch a pin number. 

I think a grammatical ignorance category could be fun.

Well, I could fill a category like this!  These things abound in Korea.  We call it Konglish.  I bet the same is true elsewhere.  What about misspelled Czech signs?  Or, other languages.  Or, what about those whose spelling is always off centre and off colour???

silverquill:

yramc600:

There's a local gas station here with signs on each pump declaring that "these pumps do not except debit cards" right there by the number pad and the card swipe.  The station owners could not figure out why people kept trying to use a debit card and punch a pin number. 

I think a grammatical ignorance category could be fun.

Well, I could fill a category like this!  These things abound in Korea.  We call it Konglish.  I bet the same is true elsewhere.  What about misspelled Czech signs?  Or, other languages.  Or, what about those whose spelling is always off centre and off colour???

As I said above, I'd be interested to see examples of this in languages other than English.

silverquill:

Well, I could fill a category like this!  These things abound in Korea.  We call it Konglish.  I bet the same is true elsewhere.  What about misspelled Czech signs?  Or, other languages.  Or, what about those whose spelling is always off centre and off colour???

In Czech republic it is called Czenglish :)

misspelled signs: Maybe this category could have native born officers from different countries, to approve different languages - than it is really internatinal category :)).

 

 

Dáin & Olík:

silverquill:

Well, I could fill a category like this!  These things abound in Korea.  We call it Konglish.  I bet the same is true elsewhere.  What about misspelled Czech signs?  Or, other languages.  Or, what about those whose spelling is always off centre and off colour???

In Czech republic it is called Czenglish :)

misspelled signs: Maybe this category could have native born officers from different countries, to approve different languages - than it is really internatinal category :)).

That is a great idea! Let's face it, none of us are fluent in every language. 

I got dibs on Pig Latin!