AIBU to tell an Etsy seller their grammar/ punctuation is incorrect?

[Lolabear38]

Looking at signs on Etsy earlier and one I noticed said ‘Dog’s welcome’. Obviously dogs doesn’t need an apostrophe here - looking at other items in their shop I also noticed things like ‘mum’s are magic’ and some others. I messaged the seller about something I wanted to buy but mentioned the incorrect use of the apostrophe - in a polite, what I considered to be constructive way - and got a very arsey reply!

Apparently they have ‘hundreds of very satisfied customers’ (and actually they have had hundreds of sales according to their Etsy stats) and nobody has ever complained before, therefore it must be me who has the problem and I should probably look at other shops if I’m going to be ‘a perfectionist about it’.

AIBU to have pointed this out? I genuinely don't spend my days seeking out grammatical errors to correct but why are people blasted for trying to help like this? I'm not claiming my own grammar or language is perfect, but neither am I selling signs with mistakes on them. It seems like anytime someone does point out mistakes they're labelled 'grammar police' and demonised.

YABU - you should have let them carry on using apostrophes incorrectly and looked at another shop instead.

YANBU - you were trying to help 🤷🏻‍♀️

A garden structure business round here has 'pagolas' in huge letters on the van. A cross between a pagoda and a pergola, perhaps.

A carpenter was late with his quote and started it with 'oppologies'.

If it were me I would want to know. These are part of their shop windows.

YANBU but the vast majority of people are illiterate these days, and they won’t thank you for pointing it out.

While I think signs should be checked before they're made, I do think there's an element of classicm or snobbery in this. Not everyone had the same educational opportunities or got through all of high school. Could have had utter chaos at home. Compare that to a quiet, well off family where every child goes to university. It's not a level playing field and we know it. People seem to have understanding for these children but then forget about them once they become adults. We know nothing about this person or her life.

It obviously upset the seller. We don't know if she had a terrible time in school or anything about her.

Personally I wouldn't have pointed it out, unless I wanted to buy the particular sign that was written incorrectly, and then I'd ask to have the sign done as "xyz".

Love the irony.

I've given up pointing anything like this out to anyone since an unfortunate conversation about a sign on a 'stationary' cupboard.

I recently contacted Olay because they spelt exercise as excercise on their webpage about skincare for the over 50s. It hasn't been amended, so Olay obviously doesn't care about spelling only about selling their products.

Most definitely YANBU

Can't stand it when people make grammar mistakes

I'd agree, but could Lilly be the florist?

My local Premier Inn advertised "Kid's eat free" on a very large banner for a couple of months before it was corrected

I think in this specific situation, where her business relies on grammatical correctness you were well within your rights to point it out and were doing her a favour.

I do think it’s fairly pedantic and smug when people correct posters on mumsnet though.

Context is everything.

Then don't go into a business that relies heavily on good grammar and spelling. My maths ability is average at best, so I avoided careers that required complex equations. It's really very simple.

If it were me I would want to know. These are part of their shop windows.

That reminds me of Arkwright and his deliberate sign in the window saying 'speciol offer' - so that everybody would come in to tell him it was wrong and then he could sell them something!

To be honest, I wonder if some of this woman's customers are buying the misspelled signs for deliberate kitsch value, so they can always have a chuckle every time they see it!

My local Premier Inn advertised "Kid's eat free"

"My favourite three things in life are eating my family and not using commas!"

Yanb remotely u. What a ridiculous response from the seller. Sounds like a load of shite for sale anyway.

I could see me buying one of these for my best friend (depending on price) to really bug the shit out of her.

Our sort of sense of humour

Then don't go into a business that relies heavily on good grammar and spelling. My maths ability is average at best, so I avoided careers that required complex equations. It's really very simple.

Yes, this is it. Whatever the reason for your inability to do something, the fact that you can't do it should rule it out as a business proposition. If you have restricted mobility or physical disabilities, nobody is saying that it's your fault; but becoming a roofer is probably not for you. We don't allow blind people to drive buses on the grounds that it isn't their fault that they can't see, so why should we stop them?

Not unreasonable in this instance.
Never, ever reasonable on Mumsnet. Even in Pedants' Corner.

If I wanted to buy a sign and saw grammatical errors on the adverts, then I would definitely shop elsewhere. I think she should have appreciated that she could be losing business, and you were being helpful. Yanbu.

I'm grateful if someone takes the trouble to correct my spelling or grammar because I learn something from it - although I still confuse desert/dessert and always have to check before I use it or else we're stuck with sandy place/pudding

I could see me buying one of these for my best friend (depending on price) to really bug the shit out of her.

When we were students, we had ongoing competitions to find the tackiest, tawdriest, most awful nasty tat that we could find. It was always double points when they hadn't even spelled it correctly!

We have two takeaways in our town called something similar to 'Delight's' (curry house) and 'Sea's' (fish & chip shop). We still gladly use them, but everybody refers to them as 'Delight-Apostrophe-Ess' etc. - which I'm sure wasn't their express branding preference for their business.

I'd bloody point this out too! Reminds me of a sign-writing company where I used to live, they made signs for shops etc.

Their name? Unique Sign'z 😖😖

Clutching at straws here is it a play on words ? ... perhaps she is called Lilly 🤷‍♀️

I think I’d have put a spin on it ‘I like your sign, but can you confirm the rogue apostrophe will be omitted…?’

Her other satisfied customers must be as thick as mince.

Don't know if anyone has ever come across Katie Hayes 'Make-Up Artist' - used to be fairly successful until she got called out for being a racist homophobe in her local paper.

She set up a skincare business called Bond Skin UK and kept mentioning 'pours' when she was talking about her facials.... I pointed out that it was incorrect and as a business page she might want to proof read it or ask someone else to. I was then subjected to around 100 messages over the next 12 hours accusing me of trolling her and how unhappy I must be in my own life, etc.

The latest post on her page she's talking about doing facials with 'hydrochloric acid' (yes really) and when someone has double-checked this with her she's confirmed this is correct! Also said facials are £100 so I'm sure anyone paying that much would know that this isn't what she's using (I hope anyway!) - check out her Instagram... it's a wild ride!

This is why so many people are now semi-literate. Too many people willing to ignore incorrect SPAG because they hate having their fallibilities pointed out to them. Surely everyday should be a 'school' day? What's wrong with learning something new, or even just a better or right way to do what you've been doing?