Besides the terrible image quality (my fault — no proper camera nearby), what’s wrong with this ad for a Clarins free gift promotion at Sears?
While it is nice that the promotion allows you to choose one of four different skin-care sets, the phrase “right to choose” is entirely inappropriate here.
Why? It’s loaded language. It’s [...]
When editing corporate copy, I see a lot of simple mistakes that end up making the business sound pretty goofy. Here’s a typical example of a common mistake:
Suites have newly renovated bathrooms with granite counter tops and hairdryers.
The granite counter tops sound great, but those granite hairdryers are probably pretty heavy…
The problem here is that [...]
I’ve said it before: I understand that the Internet is not a medium known for its focus on grammatical correctness. Still, you’d think a site claiming to offer job opportunities for freelance writers might try a little harder than most. That’s why this is a little distressing:
I can almost forgive the wonky capitalization and inconsistent [...]
I was walking home the other day and passed a dry cleaning shop called “Mia Dry Cleaning.” Now, Mia is a perfectly fine name for a dry cleaning shop. But when they write their name in all caps on the awning, you don’t read it as Mia. What you see is:
MIA Dry Cleaning
I don’t know [...]
I’ve had two separate people draw my attention to this image now, so I suppose it’s time to post it here. Thanks to Ric and Lloyd for calling my attention to this gem — I guess I’m getting a bit of a reputation for being a cantankerous editor.
This is just so delightfully ironic. And [...]
And then you do this:
However, the club said if the swelling and pain reduce within the week, it would allow Ohlund to continue playing in lieu of slight discomfort and he would then undergo surgery in the off-season.
Well, yes: playing in lieu of slight discomfort sound like a great idea, but somehow I don’t think [...]
I passed a restaurant on my walk home yesterday with a sign on the awning that said:
Kebabs
Vegetarians
That one little “s” makes that sign rather terrifying. A quick proofread could have saved it!
The other day, a client asked me whether the expression “cast doubt” should be “casted doubt” if used in the past tense.
The answer is no, since cast is an irregular verb — the past tense is also “cast.”
But I did a quick Google search to see what’s happening to this expression online, and “casted doubt” comes up about [...]
I received an e-mail today that contained the following:
“please email me as per for immediate follow up”
This sentence, of course, has larger issues than the “as per.” But it made me think about this little expression, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I hate it.
I’ve searched through a number of dictionaries and usage guides, [...]
