Bad Punctuation All Around Us

A colleague sent this link to a blog cataloguing instances of a certain pet peeve of mine:

http://www.apostropheabuse.com/

This reminded me of a bad business idea I once had: When I see mistakes like this on signs and menus (apostrophe mistakes seem to be the most common –- and for some reason, the most annoying), I would send the business manager a letter with a correction and explanation. Then I would ask the manager or owner to send me a dollar or two as a token of his immense gratitude. (I guess this would be the editing equivalent of taking photos of tourists with the expectation that they’ll buy the photo afterward. )

As a business idea, it’s horrible, which I suppose is why I’m not in business.

Ask me about my other business ideas sometime. (I don't know who I'm talking to. No one reads my blog.)

On Irony

There's always the danger in being ironic and/or sarcastic that someone will mistake your intent. So let me take this opportunity to explain that the post below about watching TV on the Internet was written in jest. Thank you.

I was going to write a diatribe about the difference between irony and sarcasm, but I'm trying to be less didactic and more succinct in my posts (both here and in my on-line class, where I'm afraid I've become the virtual equivalent of the geek in the front of the class who always raises his hand and then talks for 15 minutes.

In the Coffee Shop

So I'm sitting in the coffee shop, trying to get some writing and grading done, and the barrista (like that word, don't you?) is sitting on a stool watching the football game. He's actually cheering at the television. Aren't coffee shops supposed to be quiet places for nerds like me to read and write things like this? Is this a coffee sports bar? Maybe I should have just gone to Hooters.