Saturday, September 4, 2010

Emphasis Miff

Hey guys! Post number two of the day here, and it's only 12:26 A.M.! I'm back with another English miff, or should I say miffs? There are actually multiple issues here, so I'll just do a list:

  • Misuse of quotation marks. Example: someone wants to emphasize the fact that there is no running water in a bathroom. As such, they decide to put up a sign. It reads: No "Water". Really? So, there's no "Water" in the bathroom. Cool. Is there regular water? Did the bathroom ever have water, or was it just something that looked and acted like water?
  • Misuse of underlining/bold text. Also another emphasis issue. Example: a sign reads "Wet Paint!". Now, there are worse uses of underlined/bold text, but I think this demonstrates my meaning nicely. As opposed to advertising that the paint is wet and therefore shouldn't be touched, at the very least for the sake of keeping the paint looking nice, what is advertised is that there is paint. Never-mind that the paint is wet,  all you really need to know is that there is paint, and so you should stay away.

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