Grammarian at Work

Round the corner from our house, someone—clearly not a market timer—has put up a homemade sign in order to try to sell 8 pocket-sized lots on a couple of acres of land.  A year ago, or more, there might have been a lot of customers, but in the current financial/housing climate...well, probably not so much.  But, perhaps it is a triumph of hope over rational expectations.

The sign went up a couple of months ago, after we had been privy to six months of various noises emanating from that land: noises that included well-drilling and tree-felling and rudimentary road-laying.  And, one day, the wholesale moving of the neighborhood mailbox stand without so much as a mention to us.  No one in the neighborhood is very enthusiastic about this proposed mini-development, but no one is very convinced that it will turn into anything any too soon, either.

The sign has a map of the proposed development, as you can see.  What you might not be immediately able to see is that the map is pretty confusing.  The sign is oriented toward (i.e., faces) South Beach Road, but the map is oriented toward North Cedar Park Road (which it incorrectly describes as Cedar Park Road).  So, you stand there and try to figure out exactly where all these eight lots are going to be.  It does not inspire confidence in the seller.  And the '8 lots f. sale'--when did 'f.' become an abbreviation for 'for'?

What has gotten everyone’s dander up, however, is the fact that ‘Cedar Park Road’ is misspelled.  The first time I saw it, I wanted to take my correcting pencil out and change it right on the spot.  However,  my days as a writing teacher are over and I don’t really need to correct other peoples’ spelling or other peoples’ signs, and, because of that, I don't carry a marking pen everywhere I go.  (Although I do despair of what has become/is becoming of both spelling and grammar.  When The New Yorker concludes that ‘none’ demands a plural verb...well, the cause is a lost one, I’m afraid.)

However, 8 weeks or so into the sign’s existence, someone--not me--has had enough.  They came, they saw, and they corrected, and with a red marker, at that.  And, while they were at it, they took the offending ‘E’ and left it right there, dripping down toward the right-hand bottom of the sign.  That was the touch that made me laugh out loud!  An irritated grammarian at work!  (I have no idea what a spelling specialist is called, but I doubt if it’s ‘grammarian.’ )
UPDATE: It's 'orthographer,' Ed says.  Should have asked him first.