Comments for Can the CTA afford to buy a vowel?

Can the CTA afford to buy a vowel?

2009-11-11T21:38:29Z

"Going Public" was riding the Blue Line train to Jefferson Park this morning and noticed this sign. Can you guess what's wrong with this message? Find out after the jump.

A vowel is missing from "assault" and "employee." In the afternoon, "GP" was riding the Green Line to Clark/Lake and noticed this message. An Orange Line train today to Midway Airport had the same message but all the vowels were accounted for.

"GP" posted the Blue Line photo to Twitter earlier today. Here are some of the responses:

@rhoticity: The Spanish translation is also horribly, horribly butchered.
@MTrevor15: That's why the CTA has been talking about raising E's.
@windycitywilson: Its so bad, CTA can't afford spell check.
@sassclops: Assulting people is bad, m'kay
@sassclops: Assulting an employe is really, really bad.
@jisliteskinded: Budget cuts in vowels for signage.
@goldendragon35: someone in the cta doesn't know how to spell LOL
@bvicars: misspelled 'employe'

Comment from District299Reader on 2009-11-11

2009-11-11T22:12:03Z

Where do we set up a collection to buy Tracy and her tweeters some dictionaries?

Good catch on the "assult" misspelling, but off-base on "employe". While "employe" is not the common usage, it is completely an accurate spelling of the word. It can be employe or employee. Next, consider that the trains that the signs were seen on the Blue and Green Lines were probably 30 to 40 years old, and those stickers may have been on there nearly that long. Not sure you can tie that to today's CTA.

Comment from Ian O'Dea on 2009-11-11

2009-11-11T22:38:52Z

The only references I can find online say that the CTA started using Helvetica officially in signage somewhere in the late 70s, early 80s, so the signs are 20 to thirty years old at best. I can't assert that they did or did not use "employe" on purpose, but I will pay attention to signage to see if there is any sort of consistency as to which is used.

Comment from Tracy Swartz on 2009-11-12

2009-11-12T18:03:29Z

@District299Reader: Thanks for the comment.

The initial sign with the "employe" and "assult" misspellings was on a Blue Line car. The Blue Line has rail cars that are more than 40 years old and cars that are from the early 1980s. I don't remember if I was on an older car. (Older cars have the accordion doors.)

Now the Green Line cars, which featured a sign with "employe," is from the mid-1970s.

The Orange Line car I was in had a sign that spelled employee "employee." Those cars are from the early 1990s.

The Green Line and some of the Blue Line cars are before my time but I have a hard time believing the CTA meant to spell the word "employe." If that was the case, why not keep the spelling consistent for all future signs?

Comment from cyanyde on 2009-11-12

2009-11-12T18:08:41Z

CTA can't afford to buy a vowel

Comment from painhertz on 2009-11-13

2009-11-13T17:03:39Z

Those signs have been like that since I moved here in '95.