The first time I saw ads touting cell phone service on the MBTA, I was horrified. It was the first time in my life I had ever been overwhelmingly seized by a graffitti-impulse: I wanted to pull out a black marker and deface that sign.

Why? Because I’m a huge nerd, and there was a glaring grammatical error staring in my face:

“Please limit your cell phone usage, loud conversations disrupt everyone around you.”

Outrage. That comma between usage and loud needed to be a semicolon. A period would be acceptable; a semicolon superior, and far more correct.

I’m the first person to admit I have a slight semicolon-abuse problem; it’s perhaps my favorite punctuation mark, and I maybe feel like I can overuse it because it’s so generally underused. At least I do know what it’s for, and so if I scribble outside the lines a bit, so be it.

But the most critical abuse of a semicolon is its omission.

A few weeks later, the New York Times ran this article, about the outpouring of public gratitude towards a copywriter who inserted a perfectly proper semicolon in an MTA public notice: “Please put it in a trash can; that’s good news for everyone.” All I could think about was the MBTA notice, and how easy it would have been to “edit” (and that, in the NYC case, I might have actually gone with a colon instead).

Then, last Thursday, I happened to be in South Station, and what should I see but this:

It was brilliant; perfect. In fact, let’s get a close-up.

So, to the rogue semicoloner of the Red Line: I salute you. I wish I had your fortitude and courage. Well played! You are an example and inspiration to us all.