That last post reminded me of one of my pet peeves, and specifically how I was reminded of it over and over again last week while we were at Disneyland. While we were wandering through Tomorrowland, we passed the Buzz Lightyear-themed eatery. The place apparently also hosts a show or two. There’s no problem with that. The problem is with the tagline. It reads Lightyear’s Above the Rest.
I see two options. Either the folks who created the signage don’t understand how to use the apostrophe or they do understand it and figured people wouldn’t get the reference unless they spelled it out.
Option 1: Some moron thought that the plural of lightyear is lightyear’s. Not the case. The plural is lightyears (no apostrophe). I don’t know why people don’t get this, but the apostrophe denotes possession – as in belonging to Lightyear. Not the case here. They seem to be going for a play on words, and they miss.
Option 2: Another use of the apostrophe is within contractions. When you drop letters, you use the apostrophe. Witness can and not, which contracts to can’t. Perhaps they are thinking that Lightyear is would contract to Lightyear’s, which I could handle, but it seems to demean the wordplay, as if they have to point it out to you so that you’ll get it.
In the end, I suspect that it was just someone who didn’t understand. Rather than the quite catchy Lightyears Above the Rest, they had to screw it up with an uneccessary apostrophe. You’d think Disney could afford better.
Comments
5 responses to “Disney Doesn't Get It”
Ooo, that is evil, Beth. I have the homophone problem too and can completely sympathize. Luckily most of the folks with which I deal regularly are relatively adept at handling those correctly. There is this one guy though. Geez.
Brad, not a problem. I should have explained better in the entry. Note to self: Actually provide all the details so that people might understand what you’re talking about.
Though I have to say – except in a really roundabout egotistical way, the play on words for “Lightyear’s Above the Rest” doesn’t really scream Disney to me. Trump, maybe. But not Mickey.
Ok, I get it. I thought “Lightyear’s Above the Rest” was the name of the place. I think the ‘s could work in that situation, but you’re right, it doesn’t work in the tag line. (Note to self: read posts more carefully.)
Misplaced apostrophes and misspelled homophones (or even not really homophones, in the case of we’re and were… though that’s getting back to evil apostrophes) are my absolute, ultimate supremo pet peeves. They inspire rage.
…To the extent that my husband sometimes writes me emails like: Can you bring those book’s for me at lunch? Their on the table in the kitchen.
Just for effect. Pure evil.
Actually, no. The name of the restaurant is Buzz’s Place or something similar. So this could perhaps be a joint named “Above the Rest”, belonging to someone by the name of Lightyear, but that doesn’t really make sense when there is already another name on it. Thus my assumption that this is some sort of “tagline” for Buzz’s Place.
Uh, you’re forgetting that adding ‘s to a name indicates possession. Such as, “Those are Brad’s socks” or “Mel’s Diner.”
Does it make sense now?