How many “c’s” and “m’s” in “accommodate?” Is there a “c” in “acquire?” While it might seem obvious when written out in front of you, English spelling can make fools of the best of us, but most people will probably overlook a misspelled word in a text. But that mistake becomes ever so magnified when you are driving around and see it displayed in, say, a shop window. 

The “English Language Police” Facebook page gathers word crimes and grammatical mistakes people have spotted in the wild. So scroll down and enjoy the funniest examples here, upvote your favorites, and be sure to let us know what common language mistakes are your number one pet peeve.

More info: Facebook 

#1 That Was After The Honeymoon

Image credits: Jar Raj Grover

#2 Please, Turn Water Into Wine

Image credits: Jar Raj Grover

#3 So Many People To Send Them To

Image credits: Jonathan Good

Native speakers (and writers) of English all have their own struggle words. Some people can’t stand the doubling of a specific letter, like aggression versus agression. In other cases, people think there is a second letter where there actually is none, for example, imitate versus immitate. More often than not, this is a result of English not being a phonetic language. 

Many writing systems attempt to just jot down the sounds that a particular word consists of. As logical as this sounds, many languages skip this part, English being one of them. Partially, the French can be blamed, as a lot of constructions in modern English have old French (and Norman) origins, due to William the Conqueror, well, conquering England in 1066. 

#4 You Expect The Guy To Open The Store While Being Circumcised?

Image credits: Jar Raj Grover

#5 Well That Is One Way To Prevent Theft

Image credits: VidE27

#6 Okay Then

Image credits: Jar Raj Grover

To counter this, English orthographer Christopher Upward designed something called cut spelling. The basic idea was to “cut” redundant and silent letters, which would “help” save 8–15% of space when printing written texts and, potentially, reduce the number of spelling mistakes that we all run into regularly. It never really took off because who wants to go through the hassle of remaking the entire spelling system of a language?

#7 Oh My

Image credits: Linda Silverman Shefler

#8 Free Bill Posters

Image credits: Jake Schouten

#9 I Hadn’t Realized It Was Banned

Image credits: Emmay McDonald

As English is spoken around the globe by over 1.5 billion people as a first or second language, it makes sense that large, sweeping changes might not be that realistic to implement. It’s also a language without a “central” authority, with different spelling, pronunciation, and slang depending on where one is. Researchers call this a pluricentric language, meaning that different strains develop and intermix without one being regarded as the “official” variant. 

#10 Can You Eat Non-Customers At The Tables? Asking For A Friend

Image credits: Malka Wolf

#11 Where Is Elon When You Need Him?

Image credits: Daniel Rogers

#12 Good Advice

Image credits: Robert Mark

The result is that most variants of English are mutually intelligible, though there are always many anecdotes about thick accents from one English-speaking country or another. It also has a global reach, both due to colonial history and mass media. These days, English can be referred to as a true “lingua franca,” as it is often used when both parties don’t share a common language. 

#13 Listening To “Water Music” Will Never Be The Same Again

Image credits: Anindya Roychowdhury

#14 Yummy

Image credits: Jar Raj Grover

#15 No, Thanks

Image credits: Gary Kimler

Attempts to make a “neutral” global means of communication have led to the creation of “Globish,” a somewhat uninspiring name for a language. The idea, created by Jean-Paul Nerrière, was to have something that was not tied down by the cultural weight of English and also incorporate elements from other languages around the world. Nevertheless, its largest “lender” of words was still English (around 1500 words) and it has not really taken off at the moment.

#16 Unique Eligibility Criteria

Image credits: Zoya Rubina Usmani

#17 Two Lies And A Grammar Gaffe. What An Ad

Image credits: Marcy Bauman

#18 Pretty Intimidating If You Ask Me

Image credits: itzme89

English is so predominant that some scholars believe it might lead to premature language death. As it is tied up with employment, research, and a lot of popular media, English remains one of the top choices for people to learn, at the cost of acquiring a different language. The unfortunate result is that it introduces alien words and idioms into languages where they don’t belong, supplanting the more unique original structures. 

#19 Very Witty Indeed

Image credits: Corrie Katczynski

#20 Hope Agian Shows Up

Image credits: David Levy

#21 I Don’t Know If I Can Stay Awake For 5 Days… Anymore

Image credits: Dawson Delamar

#22 I’ve Read This Five Different Ways. Each Giving A New And More Disturbing Meaning To It

Image credits: Nicholas del Cioppo

#23 Aldi Australia Is Selling This Stool

Image credits: visegripandducttape

#24 Shucks, Wouldn’t You Know It, We’re On Vacation And Only Have Our Holiday Maid With Us

Image credits: Alastair John Stewart

#25 With The Price Of Gas These Days, He’s Not Wrong

Image credits: Dex Amoroso

#26 The Whole Planet? Seems Kinda Harsh

Image credits: Silver Elephant

#27 Uh, Oh

Image credits: Gary Kimler

#28 Oof

Image credits: Bernard Rumbold

#29 Is It Airfryable?

Image credits: Abe Fountain

#30 “Trespiss-Sewers” Like Connoisseurs? Or Is That Three Spas Yours?

Image credits: Krista Knox

#31 Misogynists (Somewhere In Canada)

Image credits: The Interior

#32 A Sticky Situation To Be In

Image credits: Sael-er

#33 Seems Awfully Cheap

Image credits: Stacy DeMeo Robbin

#34 I Think I Need Some Help With This One

Image credits: Angela M. Dallas

#35 Dognuts? Hmmm

Image credits: Adam Alnafusi

#36 Build A $1.2 Billion Cruise Ship And Save A Few Dollars By Failing To Proofread Signage For 75+ Plaques. Priceless

Image credits: Dave Christensen

#37 I Wonder If They Choose Or If You Have To Self-Identify

Image credits: Pina Vyas

#38 How Can You Fill Both Sides Of An Aisle With One Niche Product Category?

Image credits: Gilbert Cockton

#39 Ronnie Must Work Here

Image credits: Nicolsonraea

#40 Me In Real Life

Image credits: Rich_Dtony

#41 This Sign

Image credits: Corrie Katczynski

#42 Issue That Domestic Cats Are Usually Much Smaller Than The Weight Limit Noted Here

Image credits: BythepowerofPlank

#43 Saying “You Are A Cancer” Isn’t Much Better

Image credits: Pina Vyas

#44 But How Many Fake Ones?

Image credits: Marcy Bauman

#45 I Wonder How That School Does In National Spelling

Image credits: Monte Bradford

#46 Ah, I Can Take My Time Here. I Love To Indulge In Long Baths

Image credits: Cecilia Jenkins

#47 It’s Truly Amazing, The Progress They’ve Made In Transplants

Image credits: Cecilia Jenkins

#48 I Hope Someone Was Fired Over This, Or Smacked Across The Knuckles With A Ruler. Honk Jesus, Honk If You Save, If You Love Jesus

Jesus, Jesus says to sliders drugs say to no yes. Say sliders say no to drugs to yes.

Image credits: Dai Li

#49 What Language Is This?

Image credits: RickeySmiley

#50 Watch Your Back, Jesus

Image credits: fleaofsc

#51 The Four Apostrophe’s’ Of The Apocalypseses’s’

Image credits: Vincent Turner

#52 Tasty

Image credits: Robert Allen

#53 In Other Words, Anyone Who Is Between 1-20 Or 22+ Cannot Purchase Or Consume Here

Image credits: Gary Kimler

#54 A Good Bit Of Yorkshire

Image credits: Bernard Rumbold

#55 Found This Gem In Rural Tennessee

Image credits: Randy Johnson

#56 Probably A Rerun

Image credits: Susan Freeman

#57 Doors Can Suffer From Significant Separation Anxiety

Image credits: Yvonne Sy

#58 Sounds Great. I Get To Park Here And Eat For Free. What A Country

Image credits: Don Swinchoski

#59 Stay Get Yay

Image credits: Sophia Chalifoux

#60 Clever Crafter’s Fail

Image credits: Angela M. Dallas

#61 Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t

#62 Does Anyone Else Feel Peevish About This Post?

Image credits: Cecilia Jenkins

#63 That Only Complicates The Problem

Image credits: Brent Baker

#64 Let’s Face It: Ice Cream Is Importanter. Also Deliciouser

Image credits: Jonathan Lazarus

#65 Those Poor Guests

Image credits: Robert Mark

#66 On A Walk In Spring Hill, I Encountered This Gem. I Felt Slightly Dumber For Having Read It

Image credits: Greg Boyce

#67 100% Of The Whole Mouth, Is This Redundant? Granted It’s Early And I Haven’t Had My Coffee Yet And Have A Slight Headache But Still

Image credits: Kim Francis Skimmons

#68 Oh Really, Then Why Do Mine Seem To Not Care And Just Getting Out Bed I Need To Warm Up And Stretch For Fear I’m Going To Pull A Big One

Image credits: Pete Simmonds

#69 Presumably, These Grow In Bushes?

Image credits: Gilbert Cockton

#70 I Encountered This Fascinating Euphemism For The First Time On Our Recent Road Trip To The US. Has Anyone Else Ever Heard This Expression?

It has the quaint, bygone sound of something carried over from the Victorian period

Image credits: David MacFadden

#71 I Came Across This Sign Today And Still Can’t Quite Understand What They Are Saying. Any Ideas? Do They Want Tourists? Are The Bears Eating Tourists?

Image credits: David J Dingus

#72 Didn’t Know Tattoos Were Mobile Otherwise They Can Be Welded On?

Image credits: Kelli Anne

#73 Buried Fiber Optic Cable GF

Image credits: yeportus_333

#74 Inconvenience Indeed

Image credits: Mary Donahue

#75 Judges Do Have The Power Over You

Image credits: Jar Raj Grover

#76 Sadly, They Paid Dollar’s For That Sign

Image credits: Yvonne Sy

#77 Spotted In A Store Window. Apparently Their Merchandise Includes Children? Is That Even Legal?

Image credits: David MacFadden

#78 What Fresh Hell Is This?

Image credits: Laura Ann Peters

#79 I Was Heading To Buy More Hayfever Tablets… Until An Ad Suggested That Not Taking Any Would Be Better

Image credits: Zardoz Connery

#80 Let’s Hope The Burger Is Ok

Image credits: Boyko Bonev

#81 Not The Festive Spirit I Was Expecting From Woolworths

Image credits: Brian Merritt

#82 Penmanship Is So Important

Image credits: Gary Kimler

#83 I Am Wondering Whether The Attendant Has Had Too Many Alcoholic Beverages

Image credits: John O'Connell

#84 That’s An Awfully Long-Winded Way Of Saying “Puzzle”

Image credits: Zardoz Connery

#85 I Wonder If Gerogia Is Near Georgia?

Image credits: Mary Donahue

#86 This Company In Australia Couldn’t Decide Which Spelling Of Barbecue To Use So It’s Covering All Bases

Image credits: Wayne Rothe

#87 Ouch

Image credits: Hari Prahlad

#88 A Very Effective Mnemonic

Image credits: David MacFadden

#89 Where Am I Supposed To Park My Chipotle?

Image credits: Edward Ulm

#90 When You Want To Vent, You Know Who To Call

Image credits: Adam Alnafusi

#91 “To Bad” Must Be On The “Highway To Hell”

Image credits: Wayne Rothe

#92 Possible Uses Of A Monocular

Image credits: Clint Westwood

#93 Do What Now?

Image credits: whatthecrazyhouse

#94 Proofreading Fail. Cutains?

Image credits: Jim Thomas

#95 Why Are Racists So Bad At English?

Image credits: Gareth Williams

#96 That Arrangement Works

Image credits: Yvonne Sy

#97 Found This Sign At A Local Shopping Center. I Guess If You Park And Go Shopping, They Will Tow Your Car. We Decided To Shop Elsewhere

Image credits: Michael Berkman

#98 I Spotted This Sign This Morning In Walgreens As I Was Struggling To Pick Up My Daughter’s Pain Medication

Image credits: Helen Anne Mertsching

#99 Seen In Chennai (Erstwhile Madras)

The notice says in Tamil that there are job opportunities for ladies with expertise in operating photocopying machines. It’s the English translation that’s intriguing.

Image credits: Hari Prahlad

#100 So Nice Of Them To Send Kids To Do Our Sewing And First Aid At The Airbnb Unit

Image credits: Peppa Forest

#101 When Sad Metropolitan Copywriters Try To Write Geordie

Image credits: Gilbert Cockton

#102 Just Noticing This After Using This For Two Years. A Simple Typo, But Still

Image credits: Steven DiCastro

#103 Presumably, The Exit Is An “Outerance”

Image credits: Gordonn Shumway

#104 Sitting At A Stoplight I Spotted This. It Took Me A Minute To Understand What They Were Advertising, But I Decided Against Eating The Chicken

Image credits: Mary Donahue

#105 Damn Autocorrect

Image credits: Friar Nicolas Maria

#106 You Probably Think This Sign Is About You

Image credits: Davis Arthur

#107 I Always Thought That All Clocks Were Time Clocks. By The Look Of The Merchandise, I Guess I Was Wrong

Image credits: Timothy L Hitchings

#108 I Want To See A Floopervisor. There Is No Reason I Can’t Have My Poofs

Image credits: Krista Knox

#109 Lay Eggs?

Image credits: Mark Podesta

#110 A Beautiful Display At The Checkout Counter In A Portland Maine Restaurant

Image credits: Fritz Appleby

#111 Yo, Adrian (Proper Use Of Comma)

Image credits: hale__bopp

#112 Ecuador Ice Cream Shop

Image credits: Casey Brooks

#113 So Close

Image credits: Holly Shuck

#114 Well The Words Appear To Be English But The Manner In Which They Are Assembled Is Incomprehensible

Image credits: Julie Lombardy

#115 He Parked So Close That He Knocked Off An O

Image credits: David Mikkelson

#116 I Take Delight In Garbled English On Clothing, As I Assume People Who Can Read Chinese Do At Tattoos Sported By People Who Can Not

I have a load of photos to share if there’s interest in them, let me know, but here’s the one I love best, beyond absurdity: keep calm and love bulldog. What were they thinking?

Image credits: Sinead Butler

#117 “Construction High Noise”

Image credits: Jenniffer Twu

#118 My Favorite Christmas Coffee Cup

Image credits: Dale Nees

#119 Sign Spotted At A TJ Maxx In Florida Today. How Does One Tow A Span Of Time?

Image credits: Arlene Oakland

#120 Lost In Translation

Image credits: Carol Jeory

#121 So What Do You Do?

Image credits: Adrienne Kanach

#122 CBS Needs A Better Spellchecker

Image credits: Mary Donahue

#123 A Comma And An Apostrophe Would Have Really Helped Here

Image credits: Sam Solomon

#124 Just Saw In Miami

Image credits: Kathi Stetser

#125 Segregation Is Still A Thing In The Midlands

Image credits: varney40

#126 This Sign Caught My Eye Today And My Immediate Thought Was “Wow, Are They Making Smart (I.e. Automated) Shoes Now?”

Image credits: Louise Pattison

#127 This Sign

Image credits: Crimson Ann Jacobs

#128 What Do They Quote?

Image credits: Jan Thrower

#129 This Happens To Me A Lot

Image credits: Mary Donahue

#130 Paper Toilets Sound Like A Really Bad Idea

Image credits: Samantha Edmondson

#131 That Doesn’t Sound Very Tasty

Image credits: Bill Brown

#132 Spelling Class Starts At 8

Image credits: Manuel Vidal

#133 This Doesn’t Look Right To Me

Image credits: Adolfo Mejia

#134 I Would Have Rotated The Letter R 90°

Image credits: Edward Ulm

#135 Driving Through Hope, AZ

Image credits: Tom Nadeau

#136 I Stumbled Upon This Claim Yesterday, For Some Reason I Cannot Quite Define. Can Something Actually Be Designed To Be Authentic? Isn’t That Contradictory?

Image credits: Stephen Benedetti

#137 Sigh

Image credits: Rachael Rose

#138 Just Found This On My Door. Not Interested In Whatever It Is. I Do Want To Know If One Can Prequalify For Something That Is Active

Image credits: Chip Fowler

#139 From CNN To Local News Shows, There Are Always Typos Like These. Spell Check Doesn’t Fix Everything

Image credits: September Stokes

#140 That’s None Of Your Business

Image credits: Gautam Desai

#141 Finally, A Radio Station The Whole Fanily Can Listen To Together

Image credits: Josh Schmit

#142 My Goose Is Not Silly

Image credits: Dawson Delamar

#143 Where You At?

Image credits: Adam Alnafusi

#144 5 Star Auto Sales

Image credits: Josh Schmit

#145 The Grammar Is Bad Enough, But The Roaming Chess Gangs Scare Me

Image credits: David Knotts

#146 This Is The Inner Label Of My Two Good Yogurt This Morning. I Can’t Decide Whether They Did It On Purpose To Make A Point About No Judgment Or If It Was An Editing Error

Image credits: Glynis Elizabeth

#147 I Three What You Did There

Image credits: Dana Fleischman Lehrman

#148 Ice Creams? Am I Missing Something?

Image credits: Patrick Wanzer

#149 I Was In An Office Building Today And Saw This. It Made Me Think: Doesn’t “Uni” Mean One? Would The Sign Be More Accurate To Say “Multi” Or Something?

Image credits: Kim Francis Skimmons

#150 Thick & Durable

“Durable” implies something that will sustain continuous and/or lengthy use. Aluminum foil is typically only used once. In this case, I used it to line a sheet pan for oven bacon, and after the bacon was done, I threw the foil away. I would think a better word than “durable” would be “strong”.

Image credits: Joy Alice Rimpau

Source: boredpanda.com