Annoyingly misspelled local places: a thread for Donna Ferentes [Archive]

IntoStella

22-08-2005, 16:58

Bussing up to Streatham yesterday (don't ask why), I noticed something else incredibly annoying about the notorious yuppie-nest known as Alexander Dumas House.

The Gallic man of letters was, as any fule kno, Alexandre Dumas.

Reason enough to storm their iron mask, sorry, gates and nick their I-pods, I reckon. All for one and one for all!

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 17:03

Hmm, I can't get too annoyed by that - there's nothing wrong with a soupcon of Anglicisation from time to time. Should we also always be referring to Munchen and Braunschweig? ;)

Loki

22-08-2005, 17:04

Surely "Alexander" is an acceptable anglicisation? (fully expects Donna to come along and demolish me once more).

Mrs Magpie

22-08-2005, 17:08

Medussa instead of Medusa, and Pedro Keys (thankfully gone) should have been Pedro Cays. http://nature.org/wherewework/caribbean/jamaica/work/art14722.html

gaijingirl

22-08-2005, 17:15

Formerly known as Mr Cheap Potatoe's - the splendidly renamed Gardners Delight on Acre Lane....

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 17:16

So, should it be Cay Largo?

tarannau

22-08-2005, 17:21

Not really mis-spelled or particularly local, but I would love to take aside the signwriter who created the the legend for 'Ten Thank's' takeaway in Streatham Vale.

Fucking incompetent and illiterate signwriters eh. You think their career advisor at school would have had a word eh...

:mad:

IntoStella

22-08-2005, 17:23

Medussa instead of Medusa,
Oh yeah, that drives me nuts too.

tarannau

22-08-2005, 17:23

And a special prize for Kennedy fried chicken on Brixton Hill who, a few years ago at least, managed to spell 'Kennedy' a remarkable 4 different ways in the shop alone. That's some achievement.

IntoStella

22-08-2005, 17:27

Hmm, I can't get too annoyed by that - there's nothing wrong with a soupcon of Anglicisation from time to time. Should we also always be referring to Munchen and Braunschweig? ;)
But you woudn't refer to Bridget Bardot, or Freddie Nietzsche. Charles Marx, anyone? Frank Kafka? Hank Ibsen? John Bach? No.

If they can get the names of resistance heroes right on West Norwood's Vincennes Estate (and who wouldn't want to live in a place called Violette Szabo House?) then there's really no excuse.

Mrs Magpie

22-08-2005, 17:30

Ooh I can't remember the misspelt dish in the caff in Camberwell on the corner of Kenbury St. and Coldharbout Lane...it was so wonderfully eccentric I wrote it down somewhere as it took me some time to work out what it was....

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 17:45

But you woudn't refer to Bridget Bardot
:o

ianw

22-08-2005, 17:47

Formerly known as Mr Cheap Potatoe's - the splendidly renamed Gardners Delight on Acre Lane....

hurrah for mr cheap potatoe's - i was going to mention that.
:)

Maidmarian

22-08-2005, 17:51

hurrah for mr cheap potatoe's - i was going to mention that.
:)

Errrrr ----- shouldn`t that be "POTATO" (without the "E") :o :D

hiccup

22-08-2005, 17:52

Not exactly a place, but I saw this coffee shop (http://theskyisbig.co.uk/img/tn_Bad%20Signage.jpg) yesterday. I can see three grammatical errors. Any advance on three?

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 17:55

Not exactly a place, but I saw this coffee shop (http://theskyisbig.co.uk/img/tn_Bad%20Signage.jpg) yesterday. I can see three grammatical errors. Any advance on three?

I can see only one

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 17:56

This one is pretty bad:
REMEMBER NO SPITTING!!!!!

IN THE FOUNTAIN, THANK’S!!!!!

gaijingirl

22-08-2005, 17:57

Errrrr ----- shouldn`t that be "POTATO" (without the "E") :o :D

Precisely... it was and still is an annoyingly misspelled local place... it shouldn't have an apostrophe either!!

Mrs Magpie

22-08-2005, 17:58

Should be Belgian waffles; ice-cream; and sandwiches and panninis. Yes?

Mrs Magpie

22-08-2005, 17:58

or have I just misspelt panninis?

gaijingirl

22-08-2005, 17:59

pannini is already plural.. the singular is pannino

laptop

22-08-2005, 17:59

Not exactly a place, but I saw this coffee shop (http://theskyisbig.co.uk/img/tn_Bad%20Signage.jpg) yesterday. I can see three grammatical errors. Any advance on three?

Are you counting the misseparation of the phone number?

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 17:59

Should be Belgian waffles; ice-cream; and sandwiches and panninis. Yes?

Only if you intend a bunch of signs on your shop to be read as a complete sentence. If that is the case, most shop signs and windows have grammatical errors.

Mrs Magpie

22-08-2005, 18:05

No! it's not about the semi colons! Sorry..they've put Belgium instead of Belgian, ice cream without a hyphen and a greengrocer's apostrophe in panninis.

Ms T

22-08-2005, 18:06

In Brixton rec, the signs on the running machines say:

AT PEEK TIMES.....

It annoys me every time I'm in there.

laptop

22-08-2005, 18:07

Should we also always be referring to Munchen and Braunschweig? ;)

München (oder wenigstens Muenchen) b i t t e...

Found a wonderful one in Le Monde just now - your starter for 10 is: ou est Cantorbéry?

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 18:09

No! it's not about the semi colons! Sorry..they've put Belgium instead of Belgian, ice cream without a hyphen and a greengrocer's apostrophe in panninis.

But hiccup mentioned grammatical errors, not spelling errors.
Here's a good one:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/MeringueOtan/moblog_4ad73f17babbd.jpg

belboid

22-08-2005, 18:09

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 18:11

I wonder if the braille is wrong too - never understood why they have braille on signs like that. They have a braille sign outside Horseferry Road Court, but how do you find it in the first place?

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 18:12

München (oder wenigstens Muenchen) b i t t e...

Found a wonderful one in Le Monde just now - your starter for 10 is: ou est Cantorbéry?
I know but I can't find the umlaut on my keyboard - I can only find é!

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 18:12

In Brixton rec, the signs on the running machines say:

AT PEEK TIMES.....

It annoys me every time I'm in there.
Perhaps it's a sign for the gym voyeurists

hiccup

22-08-2005, 18:12

But hiccup mentioned grammatical errors, not spelling errors.

Apologies for any confusion. I was referring to Belgium not Belgian, the apostrophe in pannini's, and the way pannini's was spelt (I thought it was a single N - could well be wrong though).

corporate whore

22-08-2005, 18:13

In Brockwell Park at the fag end of last week, the legend

FUN FAIR HEAR THIS WEEK END

on a chalk board.

Loki

22-08-2005, 18:15

Restaurants are notorious for misspelling stuff :) Someone should start a site. I couldn't find one with google.

belboid

22-08-2005, 18:17

Apologies for any confusion. I was referring to Belgium not Belgian, the apostrophe in pannini's, and the way pannini's was spelt (I thought it was a single N - could well be wrong though).
you seem to be right, as was gaijingirl, so three mistakes in one word! and five in all

pa·ni·no n.
pl. pa·ni·ni (-n)

An Italian sandwich made usually with vegetables, cheese, and grilled or cured meat.

hiccup

22-08-2005, 18:18

One of my favourite things about India was the variety of ways people managed to spell the word omelette/omlet/omelet/etc

Derian

22-08-2005, 18:20

laptop

22-08-2005, 18:21

I know but I can't find the umlaut on my keyboard...

Es ist dafuer, wir Englischen „ue” schreiben koennen!

Mrs Magpie

22-08-2005, 18:24

My spelling is getting worse. I spell words on what looks right in my head. If you see something misspelled enough times it starts to supplant the correct spelling in one's visual memory. Well that's how it works for me. If I get asked for a spelling I have to close my eyes and see it in my head or write it down.

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 18:24

Es ist dafuer, wir Englischen „ue” schreiben koennen!
I don't speak German. My great uncle didn't get shot down for nothing. ;)

Derian

22-08-2005, 18:24

I know but I can't find the umlaut on my keyboard - I can only find é!

Alt + 129 should do it

or you could use Laptop's dipthong (the Babelfish translation of which was "It is for it, we Englishchen "ue" to write can!" :confused: :D )

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 18:26

Alt + 129 should do it
Simulataneously?
I tried it both ways, but nothing happened

Loki

22-08-2005, 18:26

Or Start -> Run -> type Charmap -> OK (think you need MS word installed)

Derian

22-08-2005, 18:28

Simulataneously?
I tried it both ways, but nothing happened
For me it works if you keep alt pressed down, then press 1 then 2 then 9
ü

Orang Utan

22-08-2005, 18:29

Or Start -> Run -> Charmap -> OK (think you need MS word installed)Ü - whahey! Far too much messing around for that though!

belboid

22-08-2005, 18:29

or alt u on a mac

ü

ianw

22-08-2005, 18:30

Precisely... it was and still is an annoyingly misspelled local place... it shouldn't have an apostrophe either!!

aw, don't pick on mr cheap potatoe's. as i used to live around the corner from it, i have a great deal of affection for the old place. seeing the sign never annoyed me - just made me smile. i'm glad the new place has an equally as incorrect name.

if i remember rightly, they even managed to move the shop and still keep the misspelling. it was on the north side of acre lane first, then moved to the south, which is where it is now - i think that's right. it was definitely on the north side when i lived on solon road. i was very impressed that they went to all of the effort of getting a new sign but still didn't spot the mistake. or, better still, knew and didn't care.

viva mr cheap potatoe's!

laptop

22-08-2005, 18:31

Alt + 129 should do it

Press and hold the Alt key.
Type 129 on the numeric keypad, not the top row.
Let go of the Alt key.
(If you have a laptop you have to press a Fn key combination to make some letters into a numeric keypad - and then re0e0ber t6 t4rn 5t 6ff aga5n!)

or you could use Laptop's dipthong (the Babelfish translation of which was "It is for it, we Englishchen "ue" to write can!" :confused: :D )

Alles ist nun klar :)

Derian

22-08-2005, 18:36

Anyone spot my spelling mistake? Should have been diphthong.... :o

I always have problems with that one.

gaijingirl

22-08-2005, 18:50

aw, don't pick on mr cheap potatoe's. as i used to live around the corner from it, i have a great deal of affection for the old place. seeing the sign never annoyed me - just made me smile. i'm glad the new place has an equally as incorrect name.

if i remember rightly, they even managed to move the shop and still keep the misspelling. it was on the north side of acre lane first, then moved to the south, which is where it is now - i think that's right. it was definitely on the north side when i lived on solon road. i was very impressed that they went to all of the effort of getting a new sign but still didn't spot the mistake. or, better still, knew and didn't care.

viva mr cheap potatoe's!

Ah no.. I'm not picking on him.... just repeating the thread title... although I do always think that the family who run it are extremely reminiscent of the shopkeepers in the League Of Gentlemen (local vegetables for local people!).. I hope they don't read this and get offended... :o

I used to find him very useful for veg when I was living down that way...

belboid

22-08-2005, 18:57

Anyone spot my spelling mistake? Should have been diphthong.... :o

I always have problems with that one.
I imagine that must be a frequent problem.

Derian

22-08-2005, 18:59

I imagine that must be a frequent problem.

:D

Donna Ferentes

23-08-2005, 08:35

Does that cafe near Herne Hill station still use the word Carribean?

St Ippollitts (http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1554348,00.html) in Hertfordshire used to be notorious for having road signs in the vicinity spelling its name in three different ways.

Long Hanborough, in Oxfordshire, is served by a station called Long Handborough.

lang rabbie

05-09-2005, 16:15

My pedantic blood boils at the street signs with the redundant word in "Forum Magnum Square" (between Belvedere Road and York Road behind County Hall.

I've never managed to track down which Lambeth officer or councillor approved this dumbing down.

On reflection, I should probably be more annoyed by the developers who thought up such a pretentious title, which is unlikely to ever be a marketplace.

Bob

05-09-2005, 19:47

trashpony

05-09-2005, 20:00

I always used to like the key/shoe shop in Camberwell which said they did them 'Y U Wait'.

Cue lots of 'why you wait?' Dunno, why you wait?' conversations. And that was next to that fab shop that said 'reliable goods, reasonably priced, pleasantly sold.' And no, there aren't any grammatical errors in that, I just really like it.

hiccup

05-09-2005, 20:04

There is a café near me that used to have a sign outside proudly announcing that they sold:

BREAKFAST
LUNNCH
DINNER

Which always struck me as an odd spelling mistake. I was quite sad when they got a new sign a couple of months ago though.

lang rabbie

05-09-2005, 22:41

I always wonder what on earth it means? Can you tell me?

Google it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum) for yourself! ;)

Mrs Magpie

05-09-2005, 23:38

ooh er...a funny thing happened on the way to the forum magnum 'in which commerce, business, prostitution, cult and the administration of justice took place.'

Bob

06-09-2005, 10:57

ooh er...a funny thing happened on the way to the forum magnum 'in which commerce, business, prostitution, cult and the administration of justice took place.'

They missed out crack dealing. ;)

Cadmus

06-09-2005, 11:33

Not a place but...back when shrooms were legal, i asked a guy selling them at stalls in Camden what sort is 'Thia'. Instead of 'Thai' he had written 'Thia' on all (and we're talking dozens) boxes. 'Shouldn't this be spelt T-h-a-i?', i asked, and then i noticed it was misspelt on all boxes. Started calling my mates to come and see that as it was some sight.

I couldn't control my giggling so he probably didn't take me seriously.