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Category Archives: Scary reads

Further proof that headlines are the most common place for errors

Yahoo! News: Entertainment News - Trump to buy McMahon’s home, let him leave there (AP) 
 
Um, let him *leave* there? Surely enough, clicking through to the story reveals that, in fact, Trump will let McMahon *live* there (which is essentially the opposite of leaving).

Maybe “you” should learn what quotation marks are for…

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 […]

And you want me to take your IQ test?

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 […]

Beaconicity? A non-word? C’mon now…

As an editor, I am firmly opposed to using a five-syllable word when there’s a perfectly good one- or two-syllable one that says exactly what you mean, especially when it can make your meaning less clear.
So I offer my enthusiastic congratulations to the Local Government Association, a group that represents city councils in the UK, […]

Throw in one more comma and it’s done…

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!

But *why* do the aid workers have suspion?

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?

Dear Microsoft: Did you know your word-processing program has a spell check?

The above image is a screencap from the help files in Excel 2007. If the “Waht” isn’t awful enough, just try to decipher that second sentence. Yes, this is so helpful. Perhaps a proofreader would have been a good idea?

Twuncers, kippers: LOL, but oh, it hurts :-(

There was a time once, I think, when people used real words.
Not anymore.
Ever heard of a twuncer? A soiler? An alcopop?
Read all about it, and groan and gag, here. It hurts my poor editor’s brain.

Oh, CBC – I told the world I loved you!

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 […]