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 […]
For years I drove past this sign every day on the bus, and it has always driven me crazy. I understand what it is supposed to mean. Making wine at this location will save you money. But what on earth is that second line supposed to say when you read it to yourself in your […]
Again, I must say that I understand Internet advertising may be an unfair place to go looking for grammatical and punctuation screw-ups. But still — I couldn’t ignore this ad:
What on earth does the person who wrote this ad think those quotation marks mean? Probably the same thing as the guy who wrote the […]
Today’s post is a rant about why $3 SEO articles outsourced to writers in low-income countries are not working as well as their writers claim. Yes, the articles and press releases may rank well — but are they actually driving any new eyeballs to your site?
On this page, you can learn why the answer is […]
I’ll admit that Internet advertising banners are not necessarily expected to adhere to the strictest rules of spelling and grammar.
But surely if you expect me to have any interest in your “IQ Quiz,” you should at least know when to use “a” and when to use “an”… and that’s as far as I’m going to […]
Why must people do things like this to signs?
Four commas, and not a one of them used correctly. If you’re going to invest in a sign, I highly recommend splurging on a proofreader!
I’ve discovered something interesting recently, through the process of taking a Spanish class: You never think about the mechanics of your native language. (Well, I think about the mechanics of my native language, but I could hardly be a very good editor — or soap-box grammarian — without doing so.)
Your brain knows how English works. […]
Here’s a painful headline from Macleans.ca:
Myanmar’s military rulers view all foreigners, even aid workers with suspion
For me, this raises two questions:
1. What is suspion?
2. Why do the aid workers have it?
Vancouver’s new smoking regulations have resulted in a flurry of horribly misspelled, badly punctuated, and otherwise disgusting new signs on patios all over Vancouver.
Is it really that difficult to spell-check? Must you really say that smoking is “prohibbitted”?
This recent flurry of terrible abuses of the English language made me want to do some walk-by editing […]
I sat through an unnecessarily long and painful software training session the other day (Office 2007 — thanks again, Microsoft), and my instructor had two verbal tics that only contributed to the length and pain.
Every time he asked anyone to do anything, he followed up with “if you would, please.”
And any time he explained just […]