A Texas Man Was Attacked And Killed After Ignoring An Alligator Warning
I wasn't going to post this, but since there's a clear picture of the sign in the article, I decided to go with it. The sign plainly says NO SWIMMING ALLIGATORS. If you're a punctuation nerd, like me, you can see why the guy might have dived in. He might have thought he was perfectly safe. After all, the sign does say NO SWIMMING ALLIGATORS. They might all have been napping on the bottom or they might have been frolicking on the bank, right? Maybe his family has grounds for a lawsuit.
7 comments:
There's a famous (undoubtedly apocryphal) story from English history: King Edward II was deposed by his wife and her lover. The king's captor sent a letter asking what he should do about his prisoner and received a letter with a Latin phrase which, depending on placement of the comma, either read "Fear to kill the king, the deed is not good" or "Fear not to kill the king, the deed is good." The warden added his own comma and killed the king.
/In other words, grammar is important; it might even save (or not) your life.
Or maybe he was a moron.
According to the Daily News he was "mocking the alligators" just before jumping in with them.
Don't mock the gators!
Jeff
But how DO you punctuate it? With a comma, "No Swimming, Alligators", the sign could be interpreted as directed at our saurian friends (however ineffectively), telling them to keep out of the water.
A.S.
I think they needed a sign that was a big more emphatic. Maybe something like No Swimming! Danger! Killer Gators!
"That sounds cool! I'm definitely swimming there."
Face it, some people are just too stupid to live.
Jeff
Just saw this, not sure if you already linked to it. Grammar rules!
http://www.myfox28columbus.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/Missing-Comma-gets-West-Jefferson-Woman-out-of-Ticket-157540.shtml#.VZk5H9m9LCQ
I didn't put that link in the blog, but Art Scott sent it to me. I love it that someone used grammar to beat The Man.
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