Location: Brosville Texaco, U.S. 58 West; Danville, Va.
Picture taken: June 2007
Textual representation of image: “Fore. c/card charge. At least $.5 purchage. Maniger”
This handwritten “sign” may be the most confusing one I’ve ever seen. I believe it’s supposed to read, “For credit card charge, at least $5 purchase. Manager.”
Whew! Would a dictionary have helped this one? Maybe a little. And in retrospect, I guess my husband could’ve purchased that loaf of bread with the credit card after all. (“But your sign says 50 cents!!” >:) If only I’d known why he was storming out of the store while I was snapping a shot of the front door… =(
I don’t really have a problem with abbreviations in handwritten signs; I think it’s obvious what c/card means in this case. So what do we have? Two spelling errors — fore and maniger — and a period problem? Far too many problems for one little sign, in my opinion.
Rule: For is a preposition. Fore refers to the front part of something.
Rule: Use a period to separate dollar amounts from cents.
Rule: Use a dictionary!
Unless otherwise noted, all images and text are copyright © Viable Design. All rights reserved.
© 2008, mrshawke-dot-com.
Most of my teaching resources are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License, which means you can feel free to use them with attribution as long as you don’t use them commercially. If you’re not sure, don’t hesitate to ask me. Unfortunately, I am currently unable to send out my tests and quizzes, but I am hoping to establish a less time-consuming alternative for this in the near future. Sorry!!
