Grammar Matters

Sometimes the omission of one word...a one-letter word, in this case...can make a noticeable difference. It can change a sentence or phrase to mean the exact opposite of what was intended, or at least spin it in another direction.

Ran across this ad in a casual scan of of the Musicians section of craigslist:

OLD'S COOL BAND @ CEDAR CREEK MARINA (Mt. Juliet,Tn.)

OLD'S COOL BAND is appearing tonight (Saturday June 19th) at Cedar Creek Marina on Saundersville Rd. in Mt. Juliet,Tn.
WEATHER PERMITTING!! Show starts @ 6:30 PM till 10 PM. CLASSIC ROCK, SOUTHERN ROCK, BLUES, OLD COUNTRY AND A FEW YOU HAVEN'T HEARD YET!
Come out and PARTY! We will rock you! T-Shirts are on sale at the Marina

The ad contained these images, displayed just like this:


Never mind the fact that the two-letter abbreviation of a state should be all caps, and have a space after the comma...or that the "start" of the show seems to run for three and a half hours...or that there's no period at the end of the ad. Small stuff. This IS craigslist, after all.

And never mind how the logo competes with the smaller version of itself on the gray graphic; maybe they were hoping people would re-post on Facebook and wanted to provide a choice of graphics. We'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

But do you notice the crucial difference between the text part of the ad and the graphic? Check the slogan on each (and try to ignore the missing apostrophe in "haven't"). Are they trying to say "our set will include a handful of original or obscure songs along with the familiar ones, as a special bonus you may really enjoy" (as the text ad implies)...or are they trying to say "don't worry, you won't have to sit through many unfamiliar songs at all, because we have a tight limit on those so as not to put off our audience" (as the graphic implies).

Sigh.

On the plus side, I think the play on the phrase "old school" is really good. The logo uses some well-worn images, but that probably conveys the nature of their music (they ARE "old school," after all).

Oh, well, party on, y'all. Hope you feel you wasted less time reading this than I suspect I wasted posting. But I do feel a little better. And if you think it was worthwhile, see this post for more idle, unsolicited (and correct) criticism along the same vein. And you may consider seeing a therapist, as well.