Editorials

What Annoyed the Internet This Week?

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28 January 2018

By Bronwen

If you’ve ever worked in hospitality, you’ll know there are many varieties of annoying customer. Some varieties include customers who leave rubbish all over their table, customers who don’t say thank you or ones who let their kids run around screaming.

One thing that probably doesn’t bother the average hospitality employee is the use of the word ‘literally’. However, owners of Continental bar in New York City would disagree. This establishment annoyed the Internet this week by posting this sign on its door:

As the poster Sara Cress says, a notice like this does not exactly give off a great impression. For a start, it makes out that components of speech that are typically favoured by females are ground to have somebody removed from a premises. Surely Continental has bigger problems than 20-something-year-old women using a non-offensive word? This business has really shot itself in the foot too with this policy. Young women make up a large part of the customer base of any bar and discouraging them from entering is a huge mistake.

This isn’t the first time that Continental has come under fire. The owner of the bar, Trigger Smith, was criticised in the past for a dress code that targeted minorities.

Some Twitter users made the connection between this racist dress code and the latest ban on the word literally.

https://twitter.com/HoneyAndGold26/status/957005088572264448

Others saw the funny side of the notice.

Whether or not you find the word ‘literally’ annoying and overused, you can’t deny that this Trigger Smith guy seems like a bit of an oddball. Who cares that much about a word being used incorrectly that they would go to such lengths?

 

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