Please Wait
I went to the post office—post offices, actually—this morning to pick up a package and figure out why the hell we haven’t gotten any mail in over a week. The first post office sent me to another post office, where I had to wait in line for one of two grumpy women to assist me. While in line, an elderly Chinese woman a little ahead of me pulled back and said, “Excuse me. Is that sign correct grammar?” I looked to where she was pointing. “PLEASE WAIT FOR NEXT AVAILABLE PERSON.” She went on, in precise but slightly clipped English, “Shouldn’t there be an article? Please wait for the next available person?”
I told her that although the sign was considered acceptable—”because it conveys the meaning?” she asked—if you were, say, writing a letter, then yes, you would write, “please wait for the next available person.” She thanked me and said that even after 40 years Stateside, she still gets things messed up. I think she’s doing pretty damn well, frankly.
Did I answer her correctly? Is the article required, and we’ve just gotten accustomed to grammatically sloppy signs? Or would it be grammatically correct even without the article?
* * *
current book: Still plugging away on all the same things. In other media, I actually watched a movie last night! My roommate and some friends and I watched The Devil Wears Prada, which I’ve been looking forward to for ages. I have to say, I was a little disappointed. It felt very montage-y. But Anne Hathaway didn’t annoy me nearly as much as I’d anticipated, and I enjoyed many of Meryl Streep’s lines, especially her monologue on cerulean blue.
current music: Just getting ready to pop in John’s Best of 2006 mix…
current socks: Very fun turquoise socks with lime green, light turquoise, and white 50s-style abstract shapes on them.
Posted 13 January 2007
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i’m stumped
it seems to me
that it is grammatically correct
even without the the,
but it’s a really good question
i’m trying to come up
with other examples,
but am too feeble-minded…
oh! oh!
write the the new york times guy!!
um…
the 2nd “the the”
was totally by accident,
although i wish it was on purpose
i should have said,
write new york times guy
I want to like Anne Hathaway so badly, but I don’t. I wish I knew why.