Did You Spellcheck? - A GRAMMAR Fails Blog 2

 It's that time again, we're revisiting some more pieces that went out into the world with grammar mistakes! 

First up, a New York Magazine article about James Franco. What tense is going on here?

2. Health Magazine article with wrong word use. 

Medication and Meditation are two very different health approaches for IBS.

3. Marketing text message from Extra Space Storage. 

Super easy seems unnecessary to describe this process, but when you add an extra p, it becomes supper easy. 

Did You Spellcheck? - A GRAMMAR Fails Blog

 I'll be the first to admit it, a quick text response does not always get my full concentration, but my eyes sometimes make up the difference in a missing character. But there are many times when a spelling error is glaringly wrong (and public), so we'll take a look at some of those examples today.

1. Macys website: Color Names

 

First, I was shocked to see Millennium, which I know how to spell from having a Backstreet Boys poster of the 1999 album cover, associated without "Pink" attached. If Millennium Blue is now becoming a color, MAZEL TOV to my beloved BSB. 

Second, these pants are waiting on my doorstep, so we will have a full report on the color tomorrow. 

Third, I know I and l can be confused, but it's the face that they're all lowercase i and l's that does not give any passes for this common error. 

2. Oven Cleaner Package 

I view a lot of packaging elements as part of my job. Whoever made the notes on this package will not be making a sweet Scrabble score because all I'm seeing when I look at the package is a misspelling of the band INXS... I can't remember which store I found this gem circulating around, but I would be wary of their products. 

3. Menu Mix-up

I loved going to Disney on ice as an adult. The skating in those shows is really fantastic and we went to a weekend matinee, so we grabbed a a cocktail far away from the little princes and princesses asking for cotton candy, light-up hats, popcorn, Icees, ice cream, and anything else that's overpriced or will be regretted at the end of the day. 

The bar had 4 themed drinks for the occasion and I got the "Little Mermaid" themed margarita. It tasked great, but I was laughing pretty hard as I took the fruit out. They advertised the strawberry topper as Sebatian, which I had to read again a few times (to rule out they were putting a big batch of wheat (Setian) I think Sebastian would have some things to say about this personal insult.  

Grammar Fails

It's time for another test of my editing skills. I spotted some grammar errors in some recent publications:

1. Bustle Article - How to Apologize in a Relationship

I hope you al fee too....

2. Entertainment Weekly Article - Fact Checking Season 4 of The Crown

You know those Brits- always perviously involved in the previous...

3. Local Congresswoman's Email Title- 

Public Health vs. Pubic health and the difference in meaning 

4. Home Renovation Article 

BUYing FIXTURES?

 

Sometimes It's a Grammar Fail Day: Part 2

     It's been two years to the day since I last wrote about widely published grammar fails. It's time for the 2018 edition of glaring grammar errors. As a professional proofreader, it's my sworn duty to call these errors out. Most of these are simple usage errors or some choice spellings that don't appear in any dictionary I have at home.     

7. Social Media Fail                                                                     

It's easy to make a grammar error when you're typing condolences in 120 characters or less, and my fellow BSB fans are not shy about pointing it out. In any case, confusing two versions of a word, morning vs. mourning is a pretty tame and forgivable grammar fail. It was best put by fan @GraceJoy1328 that in a time of loss, word usage errors are not too bad. 

6. Tentative Weather
Normally weather forecasts are given in ranges. Sometimes those ranges get a little vague. More than once this year, the range has just been 'a lot of snow.' 
Check out this drastic difference of snow totals in a warning from The Weather Channel in February. 
It could be 6 to 12 inches, expect in the spot that's going to get 10 to 15 inches. When we're talking about a half a foot's difference of snowfall, this is the difference between one snow day and not leaving your house for the weekend.  


5. Cable News Scroll Grammar Error
FOX News (a.k.a. America's News HQ) wasted no time getting the story out. In their hast, the screen card spelled out "Admists" instead of "admit." This is not really appropriate grammar for anyone. Someone tried to make the verb "admit" both active and plural, which would need to be 'admits,'. They also used a totally creative and "fake news" way of spelling, which is incorrect.



4. Store Sign

On a winter trip to my favorite miscellaneous shopping experience, Ocean State Job Lot, I noticed a sign with a choice spelling for 'hoodie.' When last I checked, hoodie is the singular spelling, and when it goes plural, it's hoodies. A simple Google before printing the store signage can save a lot of face. 

3. Doctor's Office Spelling 
When making an appointment for an allergy shot on my ENT's app, I did a double take. I kept trying to figure out who the 'eshtablished' patients here. There is one letter added to the word that makes no sense, and I keep wondering if 'eshtablished' patients are better than established ones. Maybe they get all of the early morning and late night slots before they will become available? In any case, I'll be booking by location tonight. 



2. Newsletter Nightmare
It's easy to confuse two similar words when you type as fast as I do. It's quite embarrassing to have a link to a nutritional article about dairy (with a cow pictured) and to find out this piece is about "diary??" Clearly, these two common words can be swapped easily, but they have nothing in common. 





1. Headline Homicide
I did a double take last week when I read this latest development in the fragile relationship of comedian Pete Davidson and singer Ariana Grande. Not only are the pair shockingly engaged after one month of dating, but then Pete died??? What a tragedy...
Here is another classic version of using the wrong word drastically changing the meaning of the sentence, for the worst. When someone DYES something, they add color to it, but when they DIE, they are not living (or playing an elaborate casino game). 

Sometimes It's A Grammar Fail Day...

     To be honest, I never want to be the person at a party mentally correcting the grammar of my friends. To be perfectly  honest, sometimes I can't stop myself. It's good to know my other fellow English major friends are still there for me! (Thanks!) It's not the everyday misuse of THEY'RE vs. THEIR or TWO and TOO that can get me, it's the plural possessives that keep me up at night. How many signs have to incorrectly refer to a group of co-workers as EMPLOYEES'?? HINT: I have seen more than one. Here are some of the grammar fails I've caught in the last few months. Let's get them off our chests and move on peacefully.


5. Supermarket Sunscreen Ad

(C) PipPepPop

I know these little ads have a premium on their space. I cannot understand why someone would use their full space and still not use the correct word on there.

For the record, I always SCREEN the sun away from my body.





4. Cleaning Reminder at My Office

(c) PipPepPop

     My personal favorite reminder from work is a photo of Alice from The Brady Bunch with an accompanying quote:
"Now we're all got to keep this place tidy, ya hear?"

     This was since replaced with a new reminder, typed up a few months ago in an extreme haste. First of all, the last line switches from lowercase to all caps during the sentence. Why not make it all caps to really send the message home?

     Secondly, there are two apostrophes listed in the word don't. Are we that concerned? Does this mean we DO NOT NOT with added emphasis?

     In conclusion, we are not supposed to put food in the drian. At first, I thought this was some new hip slang the teens were using. It is not. They simply mis-typed the word DRAIN.




3. Movie Ad

(c) PipPepPop

      If your movie has a long title, I expect it might be shortened on billboards and other promotional materials. this is exactly why the Twitter hashtag was invented. The part about this that mystifies me is that the movie is called GOOSEBUMPS, and they took one letter out of the title to shorten it to GOOSEBUMS, which sounds like a long-lost John Belushi movie from the 1970's.



2. Fancy Engagement Ring Ad Copy

     The copy for this engagement ring collection and fancy jewelry store is missing something. The KWIAT jewler calls out the "Lorem Ipsum Dolor Et AlCollection". That's not an actual collection. Yes, the typeset and wording are just some Latin mumbo jumbo and it's not even separated for the word collection. According to Wikipedia, "Loren Ipsum..." is filler text in the publishing world that translated to "Pain Itself." 

(Photos (c) Pippeppop)

1. Political Campaign Brochure
     This brochure was delivered to my house a few months ago. While I will not reveal the name of the candidate and humiliate the person, I will say the candidate does not have a shot at becoming president at this point.
     The brochure spells the very wordy unconscionable correctly, then goes on to say    "... full-time workers lives in poverty." It adds a singular verb with a plural noun. Why????

A Weirdly Offensive CD Title (BONUS)

(c) PipPepPop

I found this GEM in a record store in Memphis. Sadly, I didn't take it home with me to give it a listen. Instead, I submitted it to The Tonight Show Do Not Play List, (I'm still waiting, Jimmy Fallon!)There is technically nothing wrong with this title, it follows the rules of grammar. 

a) I'll is the correct contraction for I WILL. 

b) There is a comma before water and baby, indicating the speaker is talking directly to his baby, like the great Barry White. 

     Quite honestly, I found the title it to be very unsettling. This man is in the woman's bath, with a champagne glass that may be filled with her body-soiled water. No thank you!