A quick clip in this weekend's local newspaper introduced me to a group I'd never heard of before: the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL), dedicated to ridding public signage everywhere of typos.

Immediately, I knew I must join this group.

Alas, a Google search revealed dire straits for the organization after the two founders (and, okay, the only two members) were convicted of defacing National Park Service signage--something alluded to on the group's official home page.

Still, their hearts--and I suppose their editing pens--are in the right place. America is a wasteland of signage erected by people who have no idea how to spell or punctuate.

Not that it's all bad; often, typos are a source of much amusement. In the small town where I grew up, our local Army Navy store put out a banner one year advertising "Marital Arts Knives." I kid you not.

Did I go into the store and inform them of their typo? Of course not; it would have been a travesty to see such a typo cast into oblivion.

The funny thing is, that banner, with that typo, stayed on the building for years. Years. That means either no one else noticed, or the other people who noticed it also thought the world a more wonderful place to have an Army Navy store that advertised "Marital Arts Knives."

I'm sad to say I think the Army Navy store is gone now. But I still like to think, somewhere out there, the banner exists.