- From the New York Post: “Notified of the botched road sign Sunday, red-faced New York City DOT officials said the gaffe would be fixed “immediately.” That’s the real problem: they had to be “notified” of the problem.
- The sign, which hangs at Myrtle Avenue and Forest Park Drive in Queens, speaks eloquently of so much that is wrong in American society…and especially New York…that it should be allowed to remain, as Paul Newman says of the smoldering ruin at the end of “The Towering Inferno,” as “kind of a shrine to all the bullshit in the world.”
Reactions of locals covered most of the bases, as Jackie might say:
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Quana Martin, 32, said, “How do you not know how to spell his name? He’s a well-known figure.” Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Quana. Cultural literacy is on the wane. In fact, all forms of literacy are…
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Queens teen JP Ward: “It’s fucking stupid. I wouldn’t say it’s disrespectful, but it’s definitely stupid.” Indeed. Hence the designation of our tiles as “The Great Stupid’!
- City Councilman Robert Holden: “You don’t have a few eyes looking at these signs? DOT is a mess.” It is not only the New York Department of Transportation that operates like this, though. How many people saw this sign, shrugged, and decided it wasn’t their problem even if they noticed the spelling mistake? This is the work ethic, or lack of it, suffocating American productivity and lowering the quality of life. How many of those in the chain of custody had “quietly quit”?
- “That’s just government,” Queens waitress Aurora Terranova said. “Most of the time shit just goes wrong because of stupidity or oversightedness.” Bingo! Now ask Aurora what party she routinely votes for, and why she thinks government can and should solve her problems.
And all these years, I’ve been embarrassed by the “Wafle House” sign a few blocks from our house…
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Pointer: JutGory
Ethics Alarms 
I think wafles have fewer calories.
And Jakies have fewer hits and fewer runs.
Wait. Aren’t proper spelling and grammar and accurate calculation white supremacist? I’m confused.
This reminds me of the commercial from a couple of decades ago in which you see a painter meticulously painting the grass in the end zone in Kansas City. When he finishes, he surveys his work with one of the team members, who says, “It looks great, but who are the Chefs?”
I think we’ve been battling typos for ages, and this may not be a sign of the Great Stupid, unless it is just human stupidity at large. I think you can probably search the internet and find hundreds of examples before even the internet, maybe even before television. My favorite: the sinner’s Bible, in which the faithful were given “Thou shalt commit adultery.” The Internet places that one at 1631…