University Campuses & Our Ever-Evolving English Language: Two Exhibits

I had occasion to be on a University Campus this afternoon to attend a celebratory event. More on this event in the next post. While my camera & I were wandering around, I snapped a couple of pictures.

EXHIBIT 1:

From dictionary.com:
de-lamp - no dictionary results

Furthermore:

cut  [kuht]  verb, cut, cut·ting, adjective, noun
verb (used with object)
1. to penetrate with or as if with a sharp-edged instrument or object: He cut his finger.
2. to divide with or as if with a sharp-edged instrument; sever; carve: to cut a rope.
3. to detach with or as if with a sharp-edged instrument; separate from the main body; lop off: to cut a slice from a loaf of bread.
4. to hew or saw down; fell: to cut timber.
5. to trim by clipping, shearing, paring, or pruning: to cut hair.

I do not see "reduce" anywhere in this list of five, do you?

Plus, it's pretty funny that the machine only dispenses 20 ounce Cokes. If The Coca Cola Company really wanted to help to "cut" energy consumption, maybe they should stock their machines with 12 ounce Cokes. But hey. It's a Free Country! If you want to shell out $1.25 for 240 calories (20 oz.), consume only 140 calories (12 oz.), and contribute the remainder to your local landfill, what do I care if the machine is lit up or not?

I'm just objecting to the display of nonsensical words on Campus.

[GMOYA: Think about the cost-- in any way you want to think about cost-- $, energy, man-hours-- of what you throw away.]

By the way, we have lettuce for the taking!

EXHIBIT 2:

Well, which is it? "Ladies or Men's"?

I don't claim to know them, but there are rules regarding the proper use of "and," "or," and/or my favorite, "and/or." Since I don't claim to know these rules, I got nothin' to say about the "OR" here. That said... .

As Trisha commented, no doubt an embarrassing moment motivated this sign. But surely that moment couldn't have been more embarrassing than the sign it motivated.

1. Parallelism. Ladies and Gentleman. Men and Women. This is not an and/or choice. Pick one. If Females are to be "Ladies," then Males are to be "Gentlemen." If Males are "Men," Females are "Women." Every freaking restaurant in town gets this right.

2. Plural Possessives. According to the eight English grammar books in my library that I've catalog so far, we've known how to properly construct plural possessives since at least 1936.

3. Underlines & Squiggles: You cannot tell me that ORMen's doesn't have a red squiggly line under it because I'm looking at a red squiggly line under it right now. Proof Read. Insert Space.

My point.  Students will grab a soda from a machine that uses nonsensical words to make them feel good about conserving something in a closed system (how much sense does that make?) and then they will go to the Ladies ORMen's restroom to piss it away. And then they will take a test or write a paper. And their profs will wonder why they cannot think or write.

Go figure.