Share Your Favorite Ironic Moment

I love irony.  I find it deliciously amusing — especially when people use the term irony correctly!  (We all know that it’s not that often!)

It’s Friday, so let’s gear up for the weekend by sharing some stories.

In the comments, tell me about an ironic moment in your life that you enjoyed.

Here’s one.  It’s not really mine to tell, since it happened to my friend Alexa (who reads this blog — check out hers!), but I find it to be a perfect example of irony.

After she moved in with her boyfriend a few years ago, his mother gave them a trinket that read “First Christmas Together — 2006″ on it.

The irony?  They didn’t celebrate that Christmas together — they didn’t even celebrate it in the same state!  They each spent the holiday with their own family members (which is unusual for them!).

What’s your favorite real-life ironic moment?

Be careful with those political signs!

After moving to the Back Bay, I got rid of my car.  Before, however, I refused to put any political bumper stickers on it.  This is despite the fact that I’m crazy about politics, that I live and breathe for new election news, that each morning I wake up already thinking about Joe Biden or Sarah Palin or Ted Kennedy.  No stickers, however.

The main reason?

Road rage.

Putting a political bumper sticker on your car makes you a target to drivers of the opposite political persuasion.  And while the chances of anything dangerous happening are low, you could still be cut off, tailgated or flipped off.  I’d rather stay safe on the road.

It’s the same thing if you wear political merchandise.  You need to be on your best behavior at all times when wearing an Obama shirt or a McCain button.  If not, you’ll be the jerk who wouldn’t move out of the way on the subway in an Obama shirt or the moron who stood on the left side of the escalator with a McCain button.

And in that moment in this hypothetical situation, Obama supporters become assholes and McCain supporters become dumbasses.

This is why you need to be careful with political signs — especially the ones you make yourselves.  Grammar and spelling come into play.  They sure do in these circumstances:

You could end up with this.

Or this.

Images via Pundit Kitchen and CFNews13.

I have a question for you.

What is the worst part of this sign?

When disaster hits close to home….

It happens.

It happens more often than we’d like to admit.

I got a letter illustrating this:

Subject: In my own home!

Dear Grammar Vandal,

For two years this sign has adorned our backdoor.  We kept it up not as a public service but because no one bothered to take the effort to pry it off — that’s double-sided tape holding it up!

I must confess my sin: ‘Twas I who typed said sign.  Forgive me.  It was an oversight!

It really does happen to all of us.

Thanks for the smile.

Keep your eyes open….

A new feature on the Grammar Vandal will be appearing in a major national publication within the next few weeks.

Keep your eyes open!

Fraught with Errors

Sorry about the lack of postings lately.  It’s been a bit difficult finding good items to post, and I’ve been busy moving into my new apartment downtown (which is AWESOME!).

But when I was in New Hampshire this weekend for Barack Obama’s rally, I couldn’t resist taking this picture.

I swear to you, this is the actual specials board at a restaurant on Daniel Webster Highway in Manchester, New Hampshire.  Here it is:

It made me smile.

The Absolute Language Test

I was perusing the tests on OkCupid tonight and came across one I hadn’t yet seen: The Absolute Language Test.

There are plenty of language tests I’ve taken before, like The Commonly Confused Words Test and The Could You Win the National Spelling Bee Test.  While they’re fun, they’re also easy.

But this test is crazy.

It not only tests you on the English language, it also moves into French, Japanese, Norwegian, Farsi and even cuneiform and hieroglyphics!  It’s a great workout for your brain because it gets you out of your comfort zone and makes you think creatively.

You have to try it out.

Try it here!

(For the record, I scored 65% eloquent, 62% well-versed, 26% so-so, 19% amateur and 10% ignoramus.)

THE GREATEST GRAMMAR ERROR OF ALL TIME

This needs no introduction.

Well, maybe a bit.

My dear friend Ryan was perusing JohnMcCain.com, for some odd reason, and came across the most delicious grammar error I’ve ever seen.

Oh, my God…

This is fantastic on SO many levels.

What’s most hilarious is that this is on McCain’s official Web site.  This isn’t a souvenir put together by an enthusiastic member of the GOP to make some extra cash.  This is official stuff.

I must ask…is our children learning yet?

Since Ryan sent this to me on Friday, McCain’s site has changed the pen to the proper grammar.  But if you don’t believe me, you can still see documentation of this hilarity here and here.