Thursday, December 6, 2007

We humbly beg your apologies

Yes, I know what the heading says. Yes, I know what it means.

Seen this morning in my local cafe:

We humbly beg your apologies.
We are out of white chocolate sauce
until Friday afternoon
and are unable to make the following drinks
[list of drinks omitted]


I hesitated. I ummed and erred. Should I say something? Get snarky at them, asking me to apologize? Should I unleash my inner English teacher?

I decided to be gentle. I tried to point out to the manager (who was also the cashier at that moment) that there was a problem with the sign. Unfortunately, she missed the point, failing completely to see that there was a problem of meaning, not of grammar here. Oh well, perhaps a better inner English teacher will come along later and help her see.

Yours, resisting the snark,
N.

2 comments:

Omykiss said...

I rather love these quirky signs .... there's one I used the see every day on the way to work ... I've chnaged routes now ... it reads Sweetmeets Available Here. Rather sweet methinks :)

carmilevy said...

It's a conundrum I face all too often: either I pipe up and say something or risk doing a slow boil as I walk away in silence.

I usually walk away at the behest of my wife. She's wise that way, as the poor sap behind the counter usually isn't the one responsible. He/she also likely lacks the ability to do something about it anyway.

I need to be a little more understanding. This language thing of mine gets in the way sometimes :)