A Quick Spelling Lesson

Just because I always screw this up, here's Mr. Bryan A. Garner on the proper spelling of the third Monday in February:

Presidents' Day; Presidents Day.
The spelling with the apostrophe is better and more common. Until 1971, Lincoln's Birthday (12 February) and Washington's Birthday (22 February) were both observed as federal holidays. In 1971, President Richard Nixon proclaimed that the two holidays would be combined into one, "the Presidents' Day," honoring all past presidents of the United States.

[snip]

The singular possessive--President's Day--is clearly wrong but still occasionally appears.

Good to know. And, also, it's crying shame that Garner only has 239 Twitter followers. He is the best person in the whole world at knowing Modern American usage.

A Different Type of Product Placement

I spent a huge amount of time riding subways today. And this means I spent a huge amount of time looking at subway ads in order to avoid making eye contact with other riders. In addition to horrible usage (e.g., "Dr. Zizmor has been treating New Yorker's skin problems for over 25 years;" I feel bad for this poor New Yorker, and I wonder why Dr. Zizmor's treatment hasn't been effective over the course of a quarter century), I was struck by Dentyne's Make Face Time ads.


The key to subway ads is simplicity. And these manage to have a consistent and easily understood message. But the coolest part is found in the bottom, left-hand corner. I love how the actual product serves as the logo. Products, obviously, are often featured prominently in ads, but it seems rare for the item to be placed above the main action of the advert, really functioning purely as a logo would. The only other example I can think of is Coke's bottle-shaped logo, a type of abstraction of the company's product. Coke is an icon. I'm not sure that Dentyne will ever match what Coke has been able to become, but I applaud this effort as a step in the right direction.