The latest massive ad campaign to feature a cringe-inducing grammatical error has taken over subway trains with the comma-deficient taglines: Thank you Bush.
Thank you Hillary.
Thank you Paris Hilton.
Thank you tree huggers.
Thank you France.
And it goes on. Anyone have a magic marker? I was ashamed to realized that the venerable PBS is the culprit this time, promoting its new series, "Make 'Em Laugh," the history of comedy.
This is reminiscent of that terrible "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" campaign, which I called out last year. It's not difficult, people: If you're addressing someone, even in jest, you put a comma before their name. This means you, PBS. (See?)
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7 comments:
I think this is a provocation, Commas! Rise up with fists!
Also, can I just point out how unfunny Billy Crystal is? Has he ever been funny? Is this some weird generational thing? Why is he still around?
Commas have it easy! Have you seen what one town in England has done to the poor apostrophe?
"England's second-largest city has decided to drop apostrophes from all its street signs, saying they're confusing and old-fashioned."
AAAAAH!!!!
I think people leave the comma out before the name because that is not how people speak. It makes it seem like there would be a pause there, which there isn't. I have started trying to make sure I put them in since that thing last year with the ads you talked about. You are the language expert in the family so I will trust you.
Matt, I just looked up Billy Crystal at The Internet Movie Database to see if there was anything I remember him being funny in.
The first thing I saw on his page was that he is "Up 11% in popularity this week." I figured you would love that.
I liked him in Monsters, Inc.
Does that count?
I never liked the comma before the name.
I'm in marketing mode so that makes me defend PBS and those clever Sarah Marshall ads.
The show itself aired already but the ads have not gone down. Now that's something I'm uncomfortable with.
1) Let me just point out that someone here has just used his THIRD Gmail alias to comment on my blog. So fickle. :)
2) I just looked at a bunch of style guides online to make sure I'm not being a stickler unnecessarily, and sure enough, you need to put a comma before or after a name in a direct address. BUT! It's accepted to leave it out in very informal writing with a short greeting, like "Hi Dennis!" (I would still put a comma there, but I am also someone who properly punctuates and capitalizes text messages.)
Yay, grammar!
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