One More Reason to Shop Online

Well, the Christmas season has officially begun, and the media implores you to spend, spend, spend! I used to love malls when I was a teenager, but now they just depress me. However, I still own stock in Gap, Inc., which my grandfather bought me when I turned 13. But after seeing this apostrophe catastrophe from one of its stores in NYC, I might have to sell my shares.


Thanks to Robbie for sending this one in!

Happy Cyber Monday, everyone!

Thanksgiving Catastrophe

Readers, I hope you all had a wonderful, properly punctuated Thanksgiving. I am thankful for all of you! I am especially thankful for J.A. who found a Turkey Day-themed apostrophe catastrophe.


Based on the apostrophe placement in seating's, it appears that the restaurant will make you sit in your seat for five hours. Oh, and that hyphen should be an en-dash.

Thanks, J.A!

Revisionist History

I love it when readers send in a story along with their submissions. JJG reported that the employees at the gas station where he found today's apostrophe catastrophe claimed that they meant "pizza's" as "pizza is."


I'm not a mindreader, but I find that unlikely. Good try, though! And it's awesome that JJG called them out on it.

Thanks, JJG!

Living Under Communist Rule

The city where I live is sometimes referred to as "The People's Republic of Cambridge." Back in the '90s, someone went so far as to post a sign welcoming people to the PRC. The sign was taken down, but its image lives on in a bar on Mass Ave.


"Do you notice anything interesting about that sign?" I asked one of the friends I was with.

"Yeah, it's missing an apostrophe!" he answered.

I tried to explain it to the bartender and told him about Apostrophe Catastrophes, but he said he had never read a blog before. Maybe, as an employee of a communist-themed bar, he is forbidden from reading non-government supplied news.

Make Mine a Double

Merry found a double apostrophe catastrophe in Allston on voting day.


Well, I suppose apostrophe catastrophe isn't quite accurate since the sign is missing a comma and an exclamation point, but you know what I mean. Merry and I agree that the sign should say, "Speak Up, Allston! Vote!"

Thanks, Merry!

PowerPoint Catastrophe

Krys found several apostrophe catastrophes in the PowerPoint presentation during a seminar on Behavior Management in an Elementary School Setting. She writes, "I needed a reinforcer to keep me from raising my hand to point out the errors."

Here's an example of a particularly terrible PowerPoint slide:


In addition to the apostrophe catastrophe in the title, the bulleted list is completely inconsistent and doesn't make all that much sense.

Thanks, Krys!

Another Permanent Catastrophe

Rick Reilly's latest column focuses on athletes who have bad tattoos. Laser tattoo removal is painful and expensive, so if you're going to get inked, you'd better make sure the message is grammatically correct. There's not much room on Penn State tight end Andrew Quarless' arm to add the missing apostrophe, so he's got a catastrophe for life.


"Quarless may be God's gift to football, but not to punctuation," Reilly writes. "It lacks an apostrophe, to say nothing of humility."

Thanks to my friend Bayard for sending Reilly's column my way! And thanks to Rick Reilly for the entertaining read.

Pink Panther Catastrophe

Charles managed to find an apostrophe catastrophe in a classic Pink Panther episode.


"He looks aghast at the catastrophe," writes Charles.

The apostrophe in ladies seems to have migrated down.

Ugh, now I have the Pink Panther theme song stuck in my head.

Thanks, Charles!

Dumb Cleveland Browns Fan

Melinda found this photo of a grammatically incorrect sign in a Yahoo story about Cleveland Browns fans:


That guy ought to say he's sorry for making a catastrophic sign.

Thanks, Melinda!

Cutting Crew

Meghan, who spotted this apostrophe catastrophe at Hobby Lobby, deemed it "painful."


I would have to agree. Someone ought to use the cutter's to cut out the catastrophe from that sign.

Thanks, Meghan!

Infiltrate the Dancefloor

If there's one thing I love more than proper punctuation, it's gay men. So one of my favorite concepts is Guerrilla Queer Bar. You see, I like the dance, but I don't like the kind of straight men who go out dancing in Boston. So, GQB is perfect for me because I get to dance with a lot of hot men and not worry that any of them are going to roofie me.

This month's GQB was at Tequila Rain and featured dancing to "Bad Romance" and an apostrophe catastrophe on the bathroom sign.


Shout out to all my mens! I love you guys!

Putting the Ass Back in Assembly

Delphine from Lancaster, Penn., writes, "We have a lot of churches around here who tell us what to do and how to behave. But the Lord didn't teach them how to spell...."


Committing an apostrophe catastrophe is a mortal sin, as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks, Delphine!

Apostrophe Catastrophes Make Donkeys Sad

Chris found this sign at Grease Wood Flat in Arizona:


"Even the donkey seems upset by the sign," Chris writes.

Poor donkey...

Thanks, Chris!

Learn to Share, Girl!

David writes, "This public toilet at Monocacy Park apparently belongs to a particular girl and no one else can use it."


How could she be so selfish?

Thanks, David!