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 🤷🏻‍♀️

@WisherWood

You could read that as 'dog is welcome' and maybe it is.

At a stretch, maybe. But shouldn’t it then be ‘a dog is welcome’? Or ‘One dog is welcome’?

Anyway. Thanks everyone! Some interesting chats. And stationary vs stationery is one I spot too (though have never commented on, it’s more of an internal thing 😂) I was always taught ‘stationery = pen and it seems to work for me.

@Lolabear38 god no you're not being unreasonable
This really pisses me off. It's one thing if you're going about your daily life making mistakes like that when you write shopping lists for example, quite another when you do it in your business or in a restaurant etc etc.
It would immediately put me off and I'd never buy from them. If you know you're not good at apostrophes, it all needs checking beforehand. It screams lazy to me and screams 'don't care'

In the past, I've messaged Ebay sellers with incorrectly spelt listing titles. 'Balck swede boots' (Black suede boots) aren't going to appear in anyone's search, so I consider it a kindness. I'd certainly appreciate it if someone did the same for me.

You did the right thing. They should have thanked you.

I once messaged an Etsy seller about the same issue - incorrect spelling and punctuation - except the service she was selling in her Etsy shop was Editing and Proof-reading!

What a bunch of dicks. Appalling!

Well what is her forte then? Because customer service clearly isn't it.

It's not. Lily is shop though is it because the apostrophe signifies the missing letter , in this case i?

It should be Lilys' shop as the shop is possessed by Lily. Like Davids' shoes, Marys' house etc

The possessive apostrophe would only go after the 's' if there was already an 's' there. Ie James' shop. As Lily hasn't got one at the end it would be Lily's shop.

Muphry rides...

If she was actually selling signs with rogue apostrophes, then IMO you were not B at all U, but I’m not surprised that she didn’t like being told. So many people have been led to believe that these things don’t matter any more, nobody cares. It’s enough to make anyone despair at the state of our education system though, when it’s a very simple thing to explain.

I once saw a Mothers’ Day card saying ‘If Mum’s were flowers, I’d pick you!’

@balconylife, I once picked up a leaflet in the library advertising a taught MA in English Lit at my local university. There were two very basic mistakes in the blurb!

“If you’re going to be a perfectionist about it”?? ie: if you’re going to care about the whole point of the item existing in the first place! You are 100000% not being unreasonable. You were trying to help someone who will definitely be losing business due to a lack of care and attention to the product they’re choosing to make and sell. And to the “they could have a disability” people… really? You do realise in the world some people are just dicks or don’t care about things, not everything can be explained away with disabilities (for which there was no mention or evidence of whatsoever in the original post)

No, it shouldn’t be Lilys’ shop because their name is not Lilys, it’s Lily - therefore the possessive apostrophe comes after the y.

Some people on this thread are just as bad as the Etsy seller…

I once messaged an Etsy seller about the same issue - incorrect spelling and punctuation - except the service she was selling in her Etsy shop was Editing and Proof-reading!

I quite often find errors in JDs. Sometimes they're pretty minor but in some there are several repeated obvious errors. It makes me think that whoever did the JD is either in a rush, and probably overworked, or doesn't care enough to check these things. Neither makes me think 'oh you'd be a good employer'.

It's not about whether or not you're clever enough to know these things. It's about whether you care enough to check them. And if you can't be bothered to check them, I start to wonder what else you're not bothering to do. I don't pull people up on it, but I do start to make a judgement about them.

In the past, I've messaged Ebay sellers with incorrectly spelt listing titles. 'Balck swede boots' (Black suede boots) aren't going to appear in anyone's search, so I consider it a kindness. I'd certainly appreciate it if someone did the same for me.

Algorithms are more sophisticated nowadays, meaning that they can pick up on common typos or spelling mistakes; but there was a time when groups of people would deliberately capitalise on it and scoop themselves bargains on eBay by searching for wrongly-spelled items like 'Compact computers' (do Compaq exist anymore?), 'Channel perfume' and countless others - as they would receive so few views (and bids), because their competitors were all searching for the items by their correct name/description!

Absolutely YANBU, I am an Etsy seller and if there was a mistake on something of mine I’d like to know! But some people are idiots and don’t care, and also the people that buy from them don’t know any better and also don’t care. You wouldn’t believe the amount of people who ask whether to use an apostrophe or not when pluralising names around Christmas, and don’t know the different between Christmas “at the Smiths’” or “with the Smiths” - if it’s at their house it’s plural possessive, if it’s with them then it’s plural.

I’ve also got a friend of a friend who’s an Etsy seller, and her spelling and grammar is appalling in her Facebook posts, she uses then and than interchangeably, I recently noticed she writes “your” instead of “you’ll” (“your never know how much we love you”). I noticed one of her tote bags says “can i intrest you in a sarcastic comment?” And I so badly want to correct her but honestly don’t know whether she’d kick off or not so I haven’t done yet.

@Lolabear38 * , From school I still remember papER stationERy, and a stationARy cAR.

A beauty shop in Manchester offered 'fascials'

But some people are idiots and don’t care, and also the people that buy from them don’t know any better and also don’t care.

What's that old phrase? "There are none so stupid as those who don't know they're stupid!"

I noticed one of her tote bags says “can i intrest you in a sarcastic comment?”

What kind of sarcastic comment? Something like "Your spelling and grammar are PERFECT; EVERYBODY accepts you as the authority!" ?

A beauty shop in Manchester offered 'fascials'

That's a very extreme form of 'beauty', if they're replacing/installing bands of connective tissue beneath the skin that will attach to muscle and internal organs - none of these amateurish mudpacks and cucumber slices over your eyes that other beauty places offer

I always find that these errors grate on me, but it depends on context,
For all I know, they have fallen foul of predictive text; I get really irritated with my smartphone when it thinks it knows better that I do where an apostrophe should be.
If someone is communicating their thoughts, and the meaning is clear, let it pass.
But...... when helping pupils with SPaG, I wanted them to get the best possible test result.
(I was the teacher sent round the school before Open Days and the like to check displays, as a school should be leading by example).
In the case of somebody making and selling signs, I think that advice given in the spirit of improving their chances of a sale should be seen as kindly meant.
Interestingly, I have heard that internet scams aimed at the gullible often contain these errors as a way of eliminating potential victims who are too savvy.......

I had some of my biggest bargains on eBay back in the days before algorithm's by misspelling words in the searches.

When I see things like that, I just don't buy them. People will if they aren't bothered/don't know the correct grammar. I saw someone on TV with a top from their yoga place, saying "breath" which is totally different to "breathe".

Our dog groomer regularly posts on Facebook “come get an appointment for you’re lovely doggies”. It makes my teeth itch but I wouldn’t say anything, I think it would come across as rude 😬

YANBU, that's extremely unprofessional and they shouldn't be selling with errors like that