hey,
check it out! The "blog" and I are getting some big press this week. Yesterday I did an interview with an AP writer (see link for story). All of you who have been having fun and "submitting" your stuff can congratulate yourselves for being ahead of the curve.
I just read the article and have come to your blog. "This is great!"
ReplyDeleteI never heard of you, but you popped up on my homepage as the main story under "Entertainment News" (sorry I couldn't resist)!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
Just read your article on Yahoo... This is literally the most "awesome" blog I've seen!
ReplyDelete"Congratulations!"
ReplyDeleteNext you need to take on unnecessary apostrophes. (CD's, the 1980's, etc.)
"Hello". I just "discovered" your "blog" on Yahoo News. This stuff has always "bothered" me. I once walked past something called "beef", fearing that it wasn't really beef, only named such.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your tireless and world-changing work. Okay...it won't change the world. But it will make folks like us feel better!
-Keith H.
Texas
Oh! And you "can" also take on superfluous "whats". For example, "I did that better than _what_ you did."
ReplyDeleteI dunno. Maybe it is a Texas thing.
-Keith H.
Texas
I saw the article on Yahoo.
ReplyDeleteI immediately felt guilty. I know I over-use quotations! Oops!
It's ironic (no quotes) that the AP article contains a link to this blog. The version I read didn't work because the link was in parenthesis! Oh well, at least they "tried".
ReplyDeleteJust added your site to my list of "permanent" favorites. As news editor for a technical magazine devoted to quality assurance [see www.qualitydigest.com] running across your site--"Thanks!" yahoo.com--is like a breath of fresh air. I can't wait to "waste" more time browsing through the posts here during work time. It's research into the "quality" of modern language after all.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a good laugh,
Carey
Hey! Just found you on my entertainment home page. I hate unnecessary quotations!!
ReplyDeleteNo offense to the South Dakotans and Wyomingites, but I just got back from a road trip through there, and never before have I seen such quotation abuse. Send someone there to capture many an example.
I wish I'd discovered your blog earlier!
ReplyDeleteThere's a local temp agency with a sign in the window that reads "Parking in the rear." In quotation marks, of course! I actually know the owner, so I took it upon myself to give him a hard time. Between the italics and the quotation marks, it looked like a slogan!
http://www.betelnutrestaurant.com/betelnut-dinnermenu.pdf
ReplyDeletecheck out this "menu" and have a "laugh". i actually used the quotation mark gesture with my hands when i ordered the "little dragon" dumplings a few months back, and my friend who paid for the meal put quotes around the tip amount he left for the server.
Thank you Bethany! I am always flabbergasted by the abuse of the written word by many in this world. I fear that since the instant message (IM) and texting has become the norm no one knows how to spell, punctuate, or (gasp) quote. In fact, if you could also point out the overuse of commas, the use of initials instead of spelling things out, unnecesary apostrophes, and the lack of spelling acumen then this blog would be entirely complete.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the publicity. All the best to you.
Read the AP article in Montana. This is your pet peeve. Just thought you'd like to know mine... When advertisers use the phrase "for all your ________ needs". The blank can be filled in with literally any word you can think of. (Roofing, travel, etc. etc.) URG!!
ReplyDeleteLove your blog - do check your legal disclaimer, though. It uses "it's" in a way that is worthy of a posting on apostropheabuse.com.
ReplyDeleteI think you mean "its." And yes, I was reading your legal disclaimer.
You "go" girl! They're one of my pet peeves, too. Nice to see this getting the press it "deserves."
ReplyDeleteBethany - Great blog! I agree with Kaitlen! I think you should check into people misusing apostrophes. That's my pet peeve!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou've reached the "Tipping Point"
ReplyDeleteI love it! I always hated inappropriate quotes too (I use quotes often myself, but only when it makes sense to). By the way, at a certain nudist resort near West Palm Beach, they felt the need to put quotes around the campsite numbers (on the little signs at each campsite). Just don't ask how I know this :-)
ReplyDeleteSometimes quotation are omitted when they should be used, like
ReplyDelete"President" Bush
Homeland "Security"
"Patriot" Act
Civil "Liberties"
"War" on Terror
Any others? "Thanks"
"THANK YOU" for pointing out illiteracy! Can you please also chase after those college grads climbing the corporate ladder and "stepping" over me ("Ouch") while writing run on sentences with way too many repeated redundancies, and who use far too many commas, with lots and lots of redundancy? Oops, what was I saying... Oh, I meant to say, simply, "Thank you". Your blog is great.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Hoy points to the aggravating habit of some lecturers who make quote marks in the air while they are talking. At least they have an audience. Some years ago, while watching my wife do what she does quite often, the thought struck me like a lyric searching for a song: She makes quote marks with her fingers, even when she's on the phone! I never have bothered to point out this little quirk to my wife because I like being married.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"you rock"
ReplyDeleteSaw the "article" at kgw.com... I like the "premise" of your blog. ":)"
ReplyDeleteI just read the article about your blog on www.comcast.com. Unfortunately, you do one of my biggest pet peeves, which is to use a puncuation within a quotation mark incorrectly. You only capture the puncuation in the quotation if it is an actual quote - not a word or title. For example, if I were asking if you had seen a movie, the correct way for it to be written would be: Have you seen "The Movie"?. If you are going to be a stickler about puncuation, please be one across the board.
ReplyDeleteAlas, I wish I could say I knew about your awesome blog before the Yahoo article told me...I'll have to live with being a follower. (Insert clever superfluous quotation marks here.)
ReplyDeleteQuotation marks are annoying, but what really irritates me is people who use 's when they are only making something plural!! This is rampant in the South! It makes me crazy!
ReplyDeleteI "found" your blog through "Hot Air". You are now "bookmarked"!
ReplyDeleteWhat a pointless article.
ReplyDeleteTiffany (Quotation Lover)
Your blog is too TOO great...finding you just made my day. The best part is that as a marketing copywriter, I have an excuse to browse your site during work hours. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not one of the people who are "ahead of the curve" (j/k...although I believe that is the correct use, right?! I feel a little paranoid now!), but I LOVE your site! You've hit on almost all of my grammar pet peeves.
ReplyDeleteLove the blog. I work in government and find rampant overuse of quotation marks and capitals. We tend to Capitalize things that are "Important." Drives me "crazy."
ReplyDeleteRead the AP article and LOVED the idea of this blog. Grammar/spelling errors are my BIGGEST PET PEEVES! Unnecessary quotation marks really annoy me. Another one is confusing "affect" with "effect." Thank you for making this blog. One day they'll learn...
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your blog and your links to other language arts peeves, but since I couldn't link over to the apostrophe one, i'm putting it here: go to www.lyndenffa.com for an example. I just hate it when days of the week become possessive!
ReplyDeleteRE: www.lyndenffa.com above -- click on corn maze!! i forgot that part!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the publicity. Subscribed.
ReplyDeleteYou know you love the air quotes. This should get a laugh... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D09SQRW7Xt4
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks to you and you linking to my blog, I've had a lot of publicity too! THANKS!
ReplyDelete==www.whythatplate.blogspot.com :-)
This is great! I am going to try to get a photo of one of my favorites, a local sort-of-veterinarian who posts an A-frame sign on the sidewalk advertising free "anesthetic" with certain procedures. I'm picturing a huge, cartoonish mallet. You've inspired me to take up the fight against my own punctuation pet peeve, superfluous apostrophes, in spite of the fact that I once was nearly thrown out of a supermarket for correcting signs int he produce department.
ReplyDeletehttp://pretepress.wordpress.com/
LOVE your blog! My mother-in-law always puts a person's name in quotes when she gives you a birthday or Christmas card......why? ("Kim", "Julie") Is she trying to imply that these really aren't our names but only what we assume them to be? :)
ReplyDelete"Holy crap, I love this."
ReplyDeleteI just read an article about your site on CBC News in Canada. (http://www.cbc.ca/cp/technology/070921/z092119A.html)
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
I'm in love with your blog. It's great to find company in this pet peeve.
ReplyDeleteI was waiting for a friend outside her appt complex. There was a sign saying that the "rent office" would be closed for Memorial Day.
I took down the sign and wrote misuse of quotation marks. At the same time, I was wondering if I had too much time on my hands.
When I write letters to my mother, I always write "Mom" because it's not her real name. Glad to find people who "get me."
ReplyDeleteKeep up the funnies!
I just read an article about this site on my homepage which has all the news. I thought that I always wanted to show people how annoyed I get when they spell words wrong on signs or advertisements. This site is great, you should add that annoyance to the blog!!!!
ReplyDeleteGeez, Bethany....my site had 1400 clicks from your site alone yesterday.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your press and your traffic!!
Bethany, thanks for such an entertaining (ahem, "entertaining") site. I read about it this morning in my local newspaper and thought, [non-ironic quotation marks], "Right on!"
ReplyDeleteI don't find most punctuation rules to be overly confusing (with a few exceptions), but I suppose that some folks are so intimidated that they throw every mark they can find into their sentences in the hopes that one may turn out to be correct.
I agree with Kaitlen... down with superfluous apostrophes! ("The Superfluous Apostrophes" would be a great name for a band.)
dear everyone who hates incorrect apostrophes: check my sidebar for someone else's site exclusively about that.
ReplyDeleteBethany,
ReplyDeleteBeen with you for a couple weeks now. I'll be linking over to you for my post about National Punctuation Day this Monday.
"Congrats" on the great press!
I read the article on Wii news (the Wii is a video game system if you didn't know).
ReplyDeleteI saw an article on the front page of our local paper yesterday and made a mental note to check out your blog, then happened upon a blog with a link to yours. I was so excited! I am a bit of a grammar and spelling freak, so I think it's fun to make fun of other peoples ignorance sometimes!
ReplyDelete