Inguiry

Guestion: What's wrong with this picture?

I personally guite like it.

I wonder if this means the landlord is a little dyslexic... which then makes me wonder if one might be able to rent the place and skip a zero at the end of the rent check.  No, I'm pretty sure a 5 followed by a zero spells five hundred. Maybe you should inguire at the bank...

Jesi, thanks for being guick with that iPhone!

Lens Machine Shop

I cranked a u-turn in a corner across double yellow lines to get a shot of this one.

The evil twin of the misplaced apostrophe - the forgotten apostrophe! I love this sign. It makes me want to stroll into the Lens Machine Shop with my glasses and ask if the scratch in the lens can be repaired with the lens machine, and if so, would that be using the gas or diesel engine? And how do I know the difference? Is lens repair more expensive with gas?

Also, even though it still doesn't make sense punctuationally (not a word? Huh, should be), I've begun to affectionately refer to the shop owner as Lens. Oh Lens, what were you thinking? Did Dicks Sign Shop hook you up? That Dicks is a nice guy...

Bad Whether

Is it bad form to criticize foreign signs? After all, I took this picture in Italy, and I should feel fortunate that someone has taken the time (maybe not much...) to make sure us tourists get the message. I don't know, you tell me weather or not I should poke fun.

I do have to say, though, that I'm impressed with the comma after "bad". Such a fine detail in an otherwise ill-translated sign. Curious.

My Favourite Sign Ever

As I may have mentioned before, I was in Australia in 2000 visiting my good friend Tania. During one of our ventures along the east coast, we stopped in a small village for gas (correction: petrol). I was surprised when I went in to pay and the owner asked, "How much was it?" There were no computers inside to tell him how much we owed - we had to go back outside to look at the pump reading. Ah, how refreshing! Already charmed, imagine my giddy joy when Tania discovered My Favourite Sign Ever! Attached to the gas (petrol) station was a pink brick building with this sign:

Aside from the mixing of two languages and the hilarious combination of fast food and art (in French, no less! Verrrry fancy), there's nothing technically wrong with the sign. Tania and I started laughing the instant we saw it, and I'm still laughing after nearly a decade.

Wide Right Turn's

Caution! This vehicle may cause my friend Tara to have an accident in traffic. She took this photo in Vancouver a week before she knew I was blogging on the same subject (AHA! Proof that I'm not alone...).



Okay, the useless and offensive addition of apostrophes in "make's" and "turn's" is insulting to us grammar freaks... but maybe we should have a moment of appreciation for the period at the end of it. (Really? Do signs have periods?)