01 November 2007

good for a "laugh"

Thanks to Robin's blog for introducing me to The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. I found it "hilarious."

If I ever started a poking-fun blog (I seriously almost put "poking-fun" in quotation marks, but stopped myself), the topic would be... misplaced modifiers! Yay, my favorite linguistic phenomenon! I would include such delights as the gas station sign that said "We cannot sell gasoline to anyone in a glass container." (This seems like plain old prejudice to me; people in glass containers are people too.) But the one example that really needs to be documented, and will probably go down in history as my all time favorite, came from the mouth of a friend's mom. She began her talk at her son's missionary farewell with this dramatic line: "Taped to the wall, I daily read this quote...." Now, try to keep a straight face during a somber moment with that mental image running through your head.

2 comments:

melis w-y said...

I just looked at that blog a few days ago 'cause hillier has a link to it on her blog, and I laughed my head off. "ha! ha!"

Robin said...

Yes! It's so hilarious. Your misplaced modifier examples are way funny, too. You might like www.engrish.com as well, it always gives me a smile.