Postcard from Home: A Bad Spell

Highbury & Islington station

Spelling and grammar perfectionism has its detractors. It has some (limited) function when it comes to pointing out ludicrousies on far right extremists' social media posts, although there is a fine line between that and barefaced classism or snobbism. Grammar, punctuation and spelling ('GaPS') is also a very controversial topic right now in the school system (some of the issues are pointed out here), and it's fun to spell out errors made by those in charge.

I can't help wondering who corrected the spelling on this sign... a member of staff who recognised the error of their ways? (they're a friendly bunch at Highbury & Is., especially after they aided and abetted some guerilla poetry a group of us did for a TfL project a couple years ago) ...An irritated commuter, perhaps? Or a cold GaPS artist, who goes around town with a marker pen, correcting everything they see.

I've just Googled the meaning of 'alternate' and it seems that it's perfectly acceptable, in North American English, to use it as an alternative word for 'alternative'. There you have it. The sign was there for American tourists and it's now been made more inclusive and I can move on. I have missed two trains.

P.s. There are soo many cheesy puns I could have used throughout this post. For the most part I resisted. You're welcome.