(apologies for the soft focus)
We’ve all witnessed the quaint misuse of quotation marks for emphasis. As reader Mike suggested previously, “Like when you go to a restaurant that promises ‘excellent service’ and they put it in quotes.” What I really love about this sign at the DMV on 34th street is not just that it employs CAPS and quotes to stress the word “your,” but that it stresses the word “your” at all. Who else’s application would I be completing and/or signing?
Seriously. I get that they want people to take care of the paperwork before (Before) getting to the front of the line — I’ve seen how this system functions. What I don’t get is why the authors of this notice were compelled to place such import on “your.”
“Well, I think the main thing is that people need to get this shit done before they get to the front of the line.”
“Dude, forget front of the line, they need to get that shit done before they even come over here.”
“Plus, they need to be taking care of their own shit. No more of this coming over here with some other guy’s half-finished application. That really gets my goat.”
“OK, so we’ll underline ‘your’ and ‘before.'”
“We can underline ‘before,’ but we gotta do more with ‘your.’ This is too important. I say make it all uppercase.”
“Yeah! And put it on its own line!”
“For sure! And put quotation marks around it!”
“This sign rules!”
Yeah, that’s probably how it happened. Also, I dig that they maintained initial capitalization throughout. Here’s to consistency in the face of utter nonsense.
No Happy Medium 