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8:29am on Tuesday, 16th September, 2025:

Respect All Shops

Anecdote

When I'm queueing in the post office behind seven other people, all of whom have parcels to send abroad, it's nice to find other things that also annoy me. This sign is one of them:



It's bad enough that it splits three infinitives with that colon there, but each of the things it's asked of us not to do starts with "not". If you're going to factor out the "to", factor out the "not" as well! That would make the bit up to the colon read "It is asked of you to not:", or, better, "It is asked of you not to:". Don't they teach algebra in schools any more?

Personally, I'd have gone with "It is asked of you not:" and then have "to damage items", "to shoplift" and "to be rude", mainly because it's unimpeachable grammatically but would somehow irritate everyone who reads it.




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