Scenario:

"When we do db lookups it's easier if there is no punctuation."

"OK, easy, let's take out the punctuation"

Later:

"It turns out that data is used to make Street signs"

"Well, it's sort of a problem with the database isn't it ...."

so instead of properly escaping their sql queries they chose to remove the offending character from the street signs??

Obligatory XKCD reference:

https://xkcd.com/327/