Quote Unquote
I saw a handmade sign at the magazine rack of my local 7-Eleven. Let me reproduce it for you exactly:
Do Not read the Magazine's "Please" they are for "Sale"
Let's ignore the floating capitalization, the lack of periods or exclamation points, the apostrophe meant to signify a plural and get down to the main business--the use of quotation marks.
I was taken aback. Was the sign writer simply quoting a couple words her boss said to her in a longer harangue? Was she being sly, implying they really didn't believe in being courteous, and, anyway, you could always steal the magazines and read them outside?
I get the feeling the anonymous author uses quotation marks for emphasis. I suppose italics weren't possible, but she really should learn about underlining.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:20 AM
5 Comments:
This is creepy like word verification is creepy--too many coincidences.
About the only friends joke I remember is Joey Tribbiani learning about air quotes and then starting to use them all the time--always on the wrong words.
Maybe Larry David left the joke on a knapkin in the NBC cafeteria.
It reminds of a great skit from The Electric Company (Morgan Freeman as "Easy Reader" I think) about the ambiguous nature of words without proper punctuation.
In court, his defense to a trespass charge was that he read the warning sign as
"Private Property? No. Fishing allowed."
Firesign Theater? Cleese?
"What's that lying in the road? A head?"
"What's THIS thing called, love?"
And the ever popular, "Don't. Stop."
My favorite Joey gag from Friends also deals with the use of language. They're in the coffee house and Joey wants a section of the newspaper. He asks "can I have the comics?" The reply is "This is the New York Times." He says, "Okay, MAY I have the comics."
Got to hand it to children's television trying to undermine property rights
Post a Comment
<< Home