Issue 9
April 2008
Slippery People
Take a quick glance at this sign, and try not to chuckle:
So pedestrians are slippery when wet? Perhaps some careful punctuation would help clarify the intended meaning. The sign could be revised as: "Caution, Pedestrians. Slippery When Wet."
This solution is imperfect, however, because signs frequently leave out punctuation for quick readability. In any case, a dangling modifier and not punctuation is really the problem here. "Slippery when wet" is modifying "pedestrians" when it should be modifying an unnamed noun, perhaps "road" or "path," depending on where this picture was taken.
So The Awkward Adverb hereby elects to change the sign to:
CAUTION
PATH SLIPPERY
WHEN WET
Chuckling will cease, pedestrians will know to watch their step, and weirdos waiting in the bushes for slippery passersby can go home.
About this E-mail
The Awkward Adverb, an e-mail newsletter sent out once a month, highlights English-language flaws that have appeared on a sign, in print, on the Web, or anywhere in the public sphere. It may address grammatical errors, careless usage, bothersome buzzwords, punctuation problems, misspellings, or confusing writing in general.
Subscribers are encouraged to submit their findings for future editions of The Awkward Adverb by responding to this e-mail. Archived past issues of the newsletter are located here.
Henry Alpert, editor of The Awkward Adverb, is a New Orleans-based copywriter and business writer who works with businesses, ad agencies, and graphic design firms on a wide array of writing projects. For more information about his services, visit action-copy.com.
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