Wednesday, January 14, 2009

short bus special?


Damon saw this one at Hobby Lobby. Audience participation: what is inside the card?

16 comments:

Unknown said...

...followed closely by "Accident".

Happy Birthday!

Nathan said...

Sorry to say, but I think those quotation marks are legitimate, since the subject of the sentence is the word "special" itself.

Now, if the card had read something like:
You are "special"
...that would've been worthy of ridicule.

DJP said...

Ditto to Nathan - and I say this as a "hater" of unnecessary quotation-marks. (I always ask, "Quoting whom?")

super normal said...

...because you're "beyond what is common or usual."

Sugarless said...

Sincerely,
Your frenemy

Anonymous said...

...don't let this impersonal pre-printed salutation persuade you otherwise.

"Happy Birthday!"

TravlinThomas said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
john said...

ah, but DJP and Nathan, it wouldn't be nearly as funny without the quotation marks.

caddlewash said...

Nathan and DJP are right. They're quoting a word that is the subject, so the quotation marks are correct.

Emily said...

That is grammatically correct.

Unknown said...

Yes, it's grammatically correct, but usually when the word 'special' is surrounded by quotation marks, it implies mental retardation. I guess the funny part here isn't the grammar but the implied message.

Frederick Szczepanski said...

Yep. Seems valid to me.

Be sure that when you ridicule something that YOU know what you are talking about... ;)

illyriafuckingmacandry said...

'retarded' is what the doctors diagnosed. Never mind, Happy Birthday buddy!

Unknown said...

The Council of Grammar Nazis has issued its verdict! TO AUSCHWITZ WITH THE GRAMMAR TRAITOR!

Katie said...

Agreed with Nathan, DJP, and others. And Jackie, i think that was the point of the card.

But anyway, aside from some entries where the quotations seem to be legitimate but we can't know because of a lack of context, I love this blog!

Benjamin said...

If what is meant is that the addressee is not merely special but "special" (say retarded), then one should use quotation marks twice when talking about the word itself:

" "special" " is the word that best describes you.