A comma!

[chris@mastodon.mihalis.net]

@jd it’s a funny sign but c’mon you know precisely what this sign intends to express. The misunderstanding is only if you insist.

[esreicht@mastodon.social]

@jd I gave up on smoking barefoot pets after I had to vomit last time.
Darn barefoot pets!

[number6@fosstodon.org]

@jd

Fortunately my emotional support goldfish doesn't have feet. You have no idea how long it took to teach him how to smoke.

[x31andy@mastodon.green]

@jd

We had a problem in Ludlow (UK) a few years ago. The council put up signs saying

"No parking enforcement in operation"

and then started ticketing people for parking. I think they ended up cancelling a lot of the tickets.

[yacc143@mastodon.social]

@jd
Why, do you have a curious smoking fetish?

[hikingdude@mastodon.social]

@jd
I'm confused
Are smoking animals disallowed or is it disallowed to smoke animals?

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@jd

"oh yeah? whatcha gonna to do about it?"

[carl_gylling@mastodon.nu]

@jd maybe they are trying to say that dragons are not allowed indoors.

[pia_ranha@mastodon.social]

@jd I'm intrigued to meet these pets, this sounds like the adult version of all the animals I read about in children's books

[heinzenstein@f-ckendehoelle.de]

@jd
I like to smoke my bare foot pets outside wearing shoes

[kshernandez@me.dm]

@jd

[su_liam@mas.to]

@jd All of my pets are bare foot most of the time, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never smoked any of them.

[thorium@social.linux.pizza]

@jd Checkmate, my smoking fish doesn't even have a foot. He's obviously not an angel fish, especially since he hasn't figured out how to keep the cigar lit underwater. This makes him swear like a sailor.

[madness832@mstdn.party]

@jd Also "and/or" in the last location.

[maccruiskeen@social.linux.pizza]

@chris @jd As an editor, I've seen a lot of these kinds of mistakes. Yes, the person who wrote them missed it because you tend to automatically filter out the 'wrong meaning without even thinking about it. But 'unclear writing because people usually figure it out' is not really a substitute for clarity.

[agturcz@circumstances.run]

@jd I cannot find the screenshot, but someone has already put a picture of this sign, with the comment (quoted from memory): "I do not know him, but he must be the coolest bro in the area".

[devlinleathercraft@mastoart.social]

@jd I always go out back to smoke my barefoot pets anyway.

[jacobwittrock@techhub.social]

@jd @catsalad Please don’t smoke bare footed pets inside!

[gaiantheinvincible@mastodon.social]

@Sir_Osis_of_Liver @jd

'smoking bare, foot, pets prohibited in building.'

[chris@mastodon.mihalis.net]

@maccruiskeen @jd my point is Oxford comma should be for preventing likely wrong interpretations, or where the consequences are severe, not merely possible ones