'IT IS CONFUSING': Dictionary takes dig at City of Toronto dog sign - Toronto Sun - Dictionary

Officials having sign replaced with updated wording

Publishing date:

Jan 14, 2022  •  2 hours ago  •  1 minute read  •  8 Comments

A City of Toronto sign about dogs and holes in parks that caught the attention of Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Photo by @MerriamWebster /Twitter

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Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

But what if the sign is confusing due to bad grammar?

The editors at Merriam-Webster Dictionary had some fun with a City of Toronto sign posted at a local park.

On their Twitter account Wednesday, the editors posted a photo of the sign with the challenge: “Reword this sign to make it sound less weird.”

The sign, which cites Toronto Municipal Code #608, reads: “Dogs that dig holes must have owners fill them in immediately.”

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Writing Puzzle #5.

Reword this sign to make it sound less weird.

The preferred (but not the only) solution will fill in these blanks:
“Owners ___ ___ fill ___ ___ ___ dig” pic.twitter.com/T09EEDGnDM

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) January 12, 2022

City spokesman Brad Ross said the sign at Coronation Park has been taken down and will be put back up reworded.

“It is confusing,” Ross said Friday, with a chuckle.

“I’m not sure a dog has the ability to problem solve and tell its owner what to do. Certainly that’s how it reads and we acknowledge that,” he said. “It could use an edit so the sign is down and I think it’s safe to say there are probably other signs that are perhaps in need of an edit so we are looking at that.”

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Ross said he wasn’t sure how the rewording would read.

“The message is still the same, grammar aside: A dog digs a hole in the park, please fill in the hole, not the dog, after.”

The municipal code in question dates back to 2007, he added.

jstevenson@postmedia.com

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