New York City Solecisms

Place names that don't end in S

Restaurant Row

The stretch of 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues is called Restaurant Row. Few establishments on this block have names that end in S, but they all too often pick up an S when people mention them. The American bar-restaurant toward the eastern end is Joe Allen, and the Italian restaurant toward the western end (with its fabulous all-the-pasta-you-can-eat menu) is Becco. I can sort of understand how someone could think those restaurants, if named after the appropriate people, could be Joe Allen's and Becco's. But "Don't Tell Mama's"? What person would be named "Don't Tell Mama"?

(The bar next to Joe Allen really is O'Flaherty's: I'll see your apostrophe and raise you one.)

Uno

The pizza chain is properly called Pizzeria Uno, if you need more syllables than just Uno. But don't call it Uno's—just as there's no person whose name is Don't Tell Mama, there's no person whose name is Uno.

While we're talking about Uno, rumor has it that they once gave kids coloring books that identify the sun as one of the...umm...10 planets. I assume that's been rectified, but at least it's the sort of thing that keeps the host of Street Smarts in business.