Tuesday, March 31, 2009

While you're down there...

Lately I've been reading Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss. Truss is the author of the critically acclaimed Eats, Shoots and Leaves which is an amusing book about the abuse of grammar and punctuation in modern society. I enjoyed Eats, Shoots and Leaves so when I saw Talk to the Hand at the local DollarTree, I picked it up. It's amusing...but not as interesting as Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Talk to the Hand is mainly a commentary on how rude we have become. Today I was reading and got a good laugh over her comments on this Ad campaign from UK's Keep Britain Tidy organization.

From Talk to the Hand: "I have to report that my reaction to 'While you're down there...' posters is, to say the least, mixed. I am actually revolted by their cynicism, disgusted by the explicitness, concerned that teenage promiscuity might be a high price to pay for less litter, but on the other hand relieved and pleased that, in a poster aimed at young people, the ellipsis has been used correctly and that there is an apostrophe in the 'you're.' In other words, it actually could have been worse."

No comments: