The scene: Summer 2002. A swelteringly hot room in Fairfield University’s Loyola Hall. My then-girlfriend suggests that I could, at times, be more diplomatic.
“Point in case,” she says of an occasion that day where I corrected her spelling. I couldn’t help myself.
“Well, it’s case in point,” I offer. Her response is unpublishable.
Which is to say, I’ve always been one of those people who doesn’t hesitate to be an annoying stickler about the English language, regardless of the consequences — hence the “then-girlfriend.”
Which brings me to Derby.
I began working at the Valley Indy in February 2012, and it wasn’t long before my travels through the area took me past the intersection of Route 34 and Cemetery Avenue in Derby.
Cemetery Avenue. C-E-M-E-T-E-R-Y Avenue.
It’s an often-misspelled word, and not surprisingly so. Phonetically, you wouldn’t think it would end with an “ery” instead of an “ary.”
But that’s the way it’s spelled nonetheless.
English!
Anyway, on one of my trips, I happened to notice that the sign marking the street’s name was spelled incorrectly: “CEMETARY,” it announced boldly.
To add insult to injury — inches from the incorrectly spelled sign, another sign stuck out from a utility pole at the intersection.
“Cemetery,” it said, correctly.
Ditto for the sign at the other end of the street, at its intersection with Hawthorne Avenue.
Well come on, I thought. Really?
In April 2013 I snapped a picture of the sign and posted it to the Valley Indy’s Facebook page. “Anyone else notice this?” I asked.
I feared I’d be harangued as a cynical malcontent, trying to stir up animosity.
And I was! But privately, by one person.
Publicly, the photo was liked by 91 people and shared 11 times. It attracted more than 40 comments, most of them agreeing with my critique.
Anyone else notice this?
Posted by Valley Independent Sentinel on Thursday, 25 April 2013
I used an automated form on Electronic Valley to notify Derby DPW.
Didn’t get a response.
I didn’t pursue it, because I realize Derby has other issues, such as the long-stagnant redevelopment zone a stone’s throw from the spelling mistake.
But to that point: say a gazillionaire developer from some swank upper Fairfield County town like Brookfield or Sherman was interested in investing in Derby.
Sipping latte in a limo on the way down Route 34 to check out possibilities, he or she would doubtlessly see the incorrectly spelled sign and immediately tell the chauffeur to pull a K-turn on Camptown, and leave Connecticut’s smallest city in the rearview.
So when Mayor Anita Dugatto teamed with the Valley Indy to broadcast one of her weekly “open door sessions” on the web, I couldn’t help but mention my pet peeve toward the end of the Q&A.
The mayor said she’d look into it.
Months went by. No change. Meanwhile, thousands of motorists drove by each day.
Fast forward to Feb. 17. Derby’s new website went live.
I noticed it had a “Report a Problem” section with a Public Works complaint form.
What the heck, I figured, filling it out quickly. I’d never hear back.
Then, about noon March 20, an email from DPW Director Anthony DeFala popped up in my inbox.
“Completed,” announced the subject line.
“Spelling error corrected and new sign installed,” DeFala’s message said.
“Huzzah!” I yelled, raising my arms in triumph and satisfaction.
At some point during a brutal winter, between clearing snow off roads and filling potholes and doing the multitude of little things a Department of Public Works does every day, someone had taken the time to address my concern.
So thank you, Mr. DeFala and Derby’s Department of Public Works, for giving this cynical malcontent newfound faith in responsive government.
