Anyone ever complained about bad spelling/punctuation and if so what happened?

[CurseOfTheMinnieMummy]

Hello fellow pedants (have been lurking here a while, but only recently posting).

I complained/tactfully told:

1. Mumsnet that they had 'stationery' spelt 'stationary' on the home page - polite and embarrassed response, and they changed it
2. Homebase that the plural of BBQ is not BBQ's - patronising response with the implication that I am a sad fucker (moi?)
3. The Living Room restaurant that the plural of pea is not pea's and tried to offer my services as a proofreader - they told me they already used one!

After that I kind of gave up. Any other examples where you've shared your pedantry tried to help?!

Umm... I hate to tell you this but BBQ's is acceptable. You can put an apostrophe before an -s indicating a plural when you are making a single letter or combination of individual letters/acronym plural. Generally, I wouldn't do it if it were a l.c. 's' following an u.c. letter/abbreviation/acronym (as in the case of BBQs) but I would if it were a l.c. letter, say, that I wanted to make plural, as in: How many m's are there in accommodation?

Sorry [competitively pedantic emoticon ]!

I've complained about a misplaced apostrophe on the MN homepage before and had a polite and embarrassed reply. Other than that, I tend only to intervene when asked to do so.

I see your point about m's and the like - but I'd always thought it's only acceptable if the alternative would cause confusion - ms could be mistaken for 'Ms' - but nobody is going to confuse BBQs for anything else, surely? Therefore making it superfluous. And I suspect the Homebase person was coming from a place of disbelief that I would bother rather than grammatical high ground.

It just looks soooo ugly. Hate it.

Love a good pedantic discussion though. Am running away to check The Guide to Style. Will then huff in a corner.

Mumsnet still have a topic called "For Free" though. Harrumph.
It's "Free".

Ah ha!!!!!
The Oxford Guide to Style says no and 'this includes...abbreviations'.

It then goes on to say 'Confusion can result when words, letters or symbols are referred to as objects rather than their meaning, especially when pronunciation may not be immediately clear. Such items are normally italicized or set in quotes with the s set in roman outside any closing quote:

can't tell her Ms from her Ns
the 'dt's

Guide to Style 1, Homebase 0.

At my work we have a writing guide which tells you everything you should do and when it should be done...no room for error...I love it, it's so absolute!

I sent a letter to a shop regarding their huge sign that read 'bathrooms and spa's'
They went bust about a week after though so it never got fixed. (Not because of their misplaced apostrophe I am presuming!)

It could show their general lack of knowledge therefore not because of apstrophe but not altogether surprising!

Katisha - maybe Mumsnet keep it as 'for free' because otherwise they think if it were just 'free' people might think it referred to political movements like 'Free Nelson Mandela' or The Guildford Four. Or possibly even some from this century, like those two people who had sex in Dubai...

We have a school nearby called "St Thomas' School". Drives me nuts. If a bl**dy school can't even get it right?!

I pointed out lots of "typos" on my dd's school website including the phrase "the school has it's own minibus". Turns out one of the teachers had written it - and she wouldn't accept it should have been "its". Last time I looked, it still hadn't been changed.

What's wrong with 'St Thomas' School'?

It should be "St Thomas's School".

In the same way that a school would be called "St John's School".

I think people get comfused with putting an apostrophe after the "s" for plurals - e.g "the girls' school".

I was taught that Thomas' is acceptable.

There is often a policy of leaving off the additional s on such names.

I have made a part time career out of asking people to re-print signs!

My local gym is favourite - recently I had to point out that their promotion advertising '20% off of all treatments' was making my eyes bleed. Similarly, their lovely laminated sign saying '...we apologise for inconvenience this may of cause'!! I kid you not.

The staff think I'm some weird mad woman, I can tell by the way they look at me.

I have recently written to M&S regarding their cards printed with thank's, which is incorrect, non?

I have complained, but weakly and pathetically and, as it turned out, futilely. I lack the confidence to complain properly, so I just take photographs and say FFS! a lot under my breath.

But what do you do with the photos? (Or should I say "photo's" in this instance?!!)

Share them with likeminded friends

I told Lucy's of Ambleside that their "umbrella's here" basket by the door, whilst handy, was grammatically incorrect.

They smiled and nodded.

It's still there......

I haven't complained,but there are three large and very permanent signs at Bristol Temple Meads saying 'Todays Tickets Only'

What do they think that S is doing?

I dearly want to complain!

I pointed out ( politely) to Leeds LEA that ' independant' didn't look too good on their website, especially as they were proclaiming the importance of excellence in all that they do for education.

To their credit, they both responded to me and changed the offending spelling.Having been educated in that fair city I knew they'd want to maintain the high standards that made me the pedant I am.

I have been known to get out my red pen and correct spellings / punctuation in car parks, on noticeboards and even - shamefully - in the odd staffroom. I just can't help it!

I'm not sure it counts as pedantry but I did once take the time to tell the manager in M&S that a sign saying that their 'food experts' had 'over 1000 years of experience' was totally meaningless if you didn't know how many experts they were talking about! I pointed out that they could have employed Methusulah or 1000 trainees with 1 year of experience each. He looked rather bemused...can't imagine why!

I complained to the BBC this week about their US election coverage which has been driving me INSANE with the logo USO8 instead of US08. I know you say 'U S O eight' but what you mean is 'U S zero eight'.

I have gone on and on about every night for weeks now, eventually my DH found me a complaint form on their website.

I thought it would all be over after Tuesday, but no, it's still going!!!