Word Wednesday

As an editor, misuse of language really bugs me. I mean REALLY bugs me. So on Wednesdays I will share my [anti] favorites. We'll start with a local one. There is a Denny's style chain here in the midwest called Bakers Square. And their tagline? It's "Baker's Square: Restaurant and Pies".

Sure, both those things to the right of the colon are nouns, but does it make sense? No! How would you scan that, "Baker's Square, it is a restaurant and it is pies"? Sounds stupid. How about, "Baker's Square, we sell restaurant and we sell pies"? Nope, that doesn't make sense, either.

Just because you can find two things that describe your business, doesn't mean you can just slap them together to the right of a colon and expect people to make sense of it. There's another similar chain, and at least they hired someone who understands English for their tagline: "Perkins: Restaurant and Bakery". That's more like it: both those things make sense together, they are both eateries. See, if I ruled the world, advertising would have to make sense [what an outlandish thought!].

But the sad thing is, their pies are terrible. At either place. Better to eat pie less often and eat good pie. (In our household, it's thanks to the Consort's magic way with fruit pies that we are kept happy throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall.)