Seen outside a hotel in Switzerland:
Come in, and we'll hospitalize you!
Is hospitalize being used properly in this sentence?
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I tried to make the question slightly more specific :-)– user230Commented Dec 31, 2013 at 1:42
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1Is this for real? Pics or it didn't happen!– user1853Commented Dec 31, 2013 at 2:17
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I swear it happened. Unfortunately, it was when I was a kid, and I do not have any photographic evidence. A "convenient" excuse, but a true one. :-)– godel9Commented Dec 31, 2013 at 2:21
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1 Answer
Clearly, the sign authors intended to say something along these lines:
Come in, and experience our hospitality!
If a host is being hospitable toward their guests, then surely one could say that the guests were hospitalized, right?
Unfortunately for the authors of this sign, the answer is definitely not! The transitive verb "to hospitalize" means "to admit or cause to be admitted to a hospital." As a result, the sign actually means:
Come in, and we'll cause you to be admitted to a hospital!
Certainly not what the sign authors meant! Fortunately, it's pretty clear that the sign is a mistake. What hotel owner would threaten their clients like that?!
Fortunately, the hotel owners turned out to be very hospitable after all, though I don't know if they ever changed their sign.