O'Really?

While driving home tonight I saw that one of the many, many homes for sale in my neighborhood is now looking for renters. The weird thing is that there's a big old sign out front that says "For Rent By Owner." Now, I'm familiar with "For Sale By Owner," the alternative being that a realtor is selling it. But who would be renting out a property besides the owner? Maybe that's a normal term. Anyway, it reminded me of this real estate flyer we picked up while waiting a ridiculously long time to be seated at The Captain's Table*:You may notice a certain theme to these house descriptions (you can click the picture to see it bigger). The puzzling thing is why they went with an over the top Irish theme on this particular flyer- because it was only a month until St. Patrick's Day? Because it's O'Brien Realty? Whatever their motivation, the titles run the gamut of effectiveness while beating the reader over the head with their Irish-ness.

For instance, "Great Place for a St. Patty's Party," "Save Lots o' Green Here!!" and "Lucky Townhouse Under 250K!!!" are very lame, yet still kind of give useful information about the place. The townhouse one even ups the ante with not one, not two, but three exclamation points. Be sure to read it three times as loud as the Patty's party one in your inner monologue.

I'll call the next grouping "Vague Irish-themed compliments." It includes "This House Sham-Rocks!!" and "Pot o' Gold at the End of Rainbow!" The latter gets bonus points for bailing on the "let's substitute -o'- for -of-" theme by the second half of the sentence.

Alas, Ms. Kleponis saved the best for last with the grammatically flawed "Leprechauns Hide-out!" The omission of the possessive apostrophe makes it read like a sentence about the actions of leprechauns rather than an incredibly lame house description. Plus, what was the thought there? Is someone going to peruse the real estate ads and think "Well, this house isn't really what I wanted- but it does say that a Leprechaun would hide here, so I'm in?" I guess I'm just not made for advertising or real estate.

* My favorite local seafood place. Although, it sort of lost it's "Hole in the wall" status when they stopped using plastic patio furniture throughout the restaurant and actually got wooden tables and chairs. Incidentally, after we ate they asked for an e-mail address to sign us up for for the e-mail loyalty club- I reluctantly gave it to them on the promise that we would be mailed coupons for things like a free dessert. They have proceeded to spam me pretty regularly, but my favorite part is that their e-mail address is thecaptain@yougotmeals.net.