Writing English Errors

People who love the English language are familiar with the commonly felt gag reflex when they see signs with violations of apostrophes. We are, as Lynn Truss ably noted in Eats, Shoots & Leaves, charter members of the apostrophe posse. We'd love to carry apostrophe zappers capable of eradicating those erroneous superscript commas on the run. Drive by apostrophicide, as it were.

I've long since given up rushing into a commercial establishment to notify management of the English errors of their ways on signs and billboards. One I spotted Wednesday on my daily perambulation was posted at the corner gas station. (Are gas stations ever located anywhere else but corners?) Several weeks ago, I'd noticed one of the six gas prices listed lacked the usual "9" at the end. If they put out a BOLO (cop talk for "Be on the lookout...) for the missing 9, it must have yielded no results. Now a aheet of paper posted on a light stanchion proclaims, "Reward for information about someone steeling from our price sign on July 3".

I just chuckled, smiled and strolled onward, thinking maybe nine hooked up with "Seven of Nine" from Star Trek.