Word Play

When I think of word play, I think of those clever, or not-so-clever signs outside country churches that call all sinners to repentance. There was a church in Fitzgerald, right across the street from the high school that never got their signs grammatically correct. Either words were misspelled or the wrong homophone was used. It drove me crazy. I wanted to get out of my car and change the signs myself.

I pictured the white-haired church secretary trying to post these kernels of wisdom by sounding out words, or maybe the pastor himself was responsible. I never saw an actual person out there sliding in the sign letters. After seeing these paragons of bad grammar every day for three years, I wondered if the "mistakes" were intentional - maybe a way to get the faculty of the high school to actually stop by for conversation or conversion (a trap that unsuspecting English teachers, armed with their red pens, would find hard to resist). I even considered bringing the sign up one day at an English Department meeting, but in Fitzgerald, churches are serious business. I did not with to offend anyone, so I remained silently annoyed.