east village idiot

You’re in a comma splice, right now.

When I come home to visit the family in Rhode Island, I always like to peruse the local newspaper and see which of my high school classmates got arrested for shoplifting or DUI.

But as much as I rag on am New York over its blatant overlooked errors, at least am New York is free. My parents pay for this paper, and this headline was on the front page of Tuesday’s edition:

Congratulations, Warwick Beacon. You have successfully shamed both me and my hometown.

Former Congressman Mark Foley: Alleged homosexual. Alleged child molester. Confirmed grammar criminal.

Recent Stops on the Grammar Patrol: Not So Scholarly, Luck of the Irish, Early Edition

Congratulations, CUNY! It’s nice to see that despite the fact that you’ve had two Truman Scholars in the last two years, you have not used any of your newfound educational capital to inform your marketing department that the use of the numbers 2 and 4 as replacements “to” and “for” is not grammatically correct. Keep up the good work!

Earlier in Grammar Police on Patrol: Luck of the Irish, Early Edition, Patrolling Union Square

While the War on Cold continues, the War on Bad Grammar carries on as well. This one is unique: this business somehow managed to correctly distinguish between “your” and “you’re” once, but blew it the second time around.

Emerald Pub, your on my list. Err… I mean… you’re on my list.

Grammar Police on Patrol: Early Edition, Union Square

I was always under the impression that journalists were smart, thorough writers, who would never do something so careless as confuse “then” and “than”…
…but I should’ve assumed that’s not the case at a free newspaper.

Earlier: Grammar Police on Patrol: Union Square

I have never been to Toasties in Union Square. In general, I don’t usually trust an establishment that uses the Comic Sans font in their logo. But mainly, I don’t patronize Toasties because of the grammar crime it commits on the sidewalk of Union Square West. This banner has been hanging by Toasties’ outdoor seating for nearly a year:

A Brooklyn Lager sounds mighty tempting… especially when accompanied by a lovely view of Union Square Park. But until that God-awful banner is taken down or corrected, Toasties is on my list.

Toasties, YOU’RE in New York. Stop embarassing us.