Typos In Graffiti
Graffiti is lame, unless it’s cool artsy graffiti, the kind that gets its own coffee table book. But most graffiti is just dumb and ugly.
Two months ago I was managing a library branch in Salt Lake City. A large part of my job was cleaning up graffiti. There were the predictable locations like windows and desks, but I was constantly staggered by the places people chose to tag.
The typos drove me nuts.
The dumbest place I saw graffiti was on the leaf of a potted plant. “Snowflake 17” had claimed that territory and the worst of fates awaited anyone who trespassed on that turf.
There were others, of course:
Carved into a shelf were the words, Reading is dum.
Sprayed onto the mirror in the restroom: Totaly Samoa.
There was a great drawing of me on a desk that said, Ugli dick!
The list goes on an on. I know that rigid grammar laws are not on the minds of those who vandalize public property. However, it was hard for me to take declarations of I-own-this-table very seriously when the spelling was bad, even though the font was pointy and scary.
I must add that I saw one act of vandalism that I absolutely cherish. It will make me smile until the day I die. Maybe longer.
It was carved into a desk in the tutoring room:
I love math!
One other thing: I refuse to be intimidated by anyone whose street name is Snowflake.
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