It rained heavily today... or it rained today, heavily. Rain fell today in large quantities. It rained a lot today.

Update on weird usage of quotation marks! I saw two signs on the gate of a playground on 43rd St. One of them was incorrect in the way that, though so common, still drives me slightly mad:

There is no "smoking" in playground

OK, we're used to that, even if it still doesn't make any sense. The other was almost unfathomably bizzare:

"Please Keep"
"Gate"
Closed

What? What could they possibly have been getting at. Why is "gate" in its own set of quotation marks? If they're using quotation marks for emphasis, why isn't "Closed" the only word in quotes as it's the defining word of the sentence? What the hell's going on here?

I also don't recall discussing Chicken Shack on this site, so now's a perfect time. I think the restaurant is called Chicken Shack, because on its banner it has

"The World Famous" Chicken Shack

Is it world famous? Do they want us to believe that it is? Has someone been quoted as saying that Chicken Shack was "the world famous" and if so, why isn't a source cited? What's the actual name of the restaurant on their ownership documents? Does it include the quotation marks?

In my eighth grade yearbook, the editor-in-chief's quote was this: Friends come and go, but friendships are forever.

That doesn't relate to the rest of the stuff I've discussed, but it also doesn't make any "sense."