It's the stuff of pure genius: a Wet Seal t-shirt abuses the English language through yet another misuse of "your" versus "you're"--in a trend with no end that causes intelligent people to grind their teeth.
Wet Seal seems to believe it all depends on you're perspective.
The California-based clothing company says a grammatically incorrect T-shirt, recently introduced, is an "intentional error". "If your single, so am I," reads the t-shirt produced by the brand. It seems "your" versus "you're" is not a bother for Wet Seal. Or maybe the company is simply striving to help women find their mental equivalent in a mate.
Whatever the reason, Wet Seal seems to find no issue with the shirts or production -- despite the fact that the printed, slogan error has sparked a wildfire of comments on the Wet Seal company's Twitter account from educated, or perhaps intelligent, consumers.
Just months ago Old Navy, owned by the same company as The Gap, was recently forced to nix its "Irish" line of t-shirts that was originally created to celebrate St. Patrick's Day 2011. The clothing company received widespread criticism, consumers believing the t-shirts had been designed in poor taste. "Irish I was drunk" and Snoopy-inspired "Party Like You're Irish" slogans adorned Old Navy tees for March 17. Some consumers found those t-shirts less than humorous. The tees were axed after customers complained the t-shirt designs exploited traditional Irish stereotypes, with the expression that the shirts were "crude" and "tasteless". Old Navy immediately pulled the merchandise from shelves and stores after poor media exposure.
Apparently a push for intelligence doesn't rank as high in the United States as the battle against stereotypes.
Wet Seal refuses to yank the tees which represent an atrocious grammar problem that extends across the nation. The common misuse of "your" and "you're" isn't limited to kids and teens: sadly, it's spread even to adults -- with incorrect usage spanning from text messages to social media including Facebook and Twitter posts. Wet Seal seems intent on spreading the abuse.
After consumer complaints about the incorrect use of "your", Wet Seal responded via Twitter to followers in an apparent attempt at humor with, it seems, a bit of condescension thrown in the mix: "It's a fashion statement. ... I am jealous for you're keen eye for grammatical errors though."
Aha! It seems two mysteries have been solved simultaneously. It's not only a "fashion statement" for the illiterate, but the mastermind behind those Wet Seal tees has finally been revealed: We must say, we're jealous for that keen eye too. After all, who's really jealous of something in this day and age.