Posted in Grammar, etc., tagged Peeves, Requests, Signs, Spelling, Students on September 22, 2010| 4 Comments »
It’s been a tough week for the South Bend public school system.
But that means it’s been a good week for me, the person who makes fun of errors in the wild.
Friends and students have shared plenty of tidbits from their travels over the past couple of weeks.
Royce found a new kind of crab:
Charlotte found pudding cake, but is still looking for a missing “r.”
And Austin found a sign for the grammar category. I guess I should be happy it is not spelled “yore.”
Sigh. Is it really that hard?
Posted in Grammar, etc., tagged Apostrophes, Definitions, Peeves, Rage on September 2, 2010| 2 Comments »
Why are apostrophes so difficult for some people? Either something is possessing something or it isn’t. If it isn’t, then it just needs an “s.”
The person who writes the promotional materials for Monkey Joe’s needs a refresher course in the rules.
Let’s take a closer look:
What is that apostrophe doing there when “fundraisers” should be a simple plural word? I’ll tell you what: making the person seem dumb.
And since I’m on the subject of appearing to be dumb, let’s talk about this phrase:
I could care less.
If you really could care less than you do, then that is correct. However, people usually use it to mean, “I don’t give a rat’s ass.” In that case, the correct phrase is:
I couldn’t care less.
And that means the speaker really doesn’t care at all.
If you use the wrong phrase, you seem dumb to people like me who care about proper usage. And then I couldn’t care less about you.
Harsh? Maybe. Truthful? Yes.
Posted in Grammar, etc., tagged AP Style, Peeves, Spelling, Students on August 31, 2010| 1 Comment »
Apparently, when my friends, family and students see errors in the wild, they think of me. That makes my heart swell. Maybe someday I’ll get a book deal out of my passion for correcting other people. (Or maybe I’ll just get a punch in the eye …)
Anyway, it has been a good week for adding to my collection. My friend Chad sent this bit of loveliness:
It was in the Savannah Morning News, of course, but what is worse than that is that it is an AP story. So it made it through the AP editors AND the ones at the SMN.
But writing student Elizabeth sent me one that topped that by a long shot! Pan down to the bottom to enjoy this little slice of heaven:
According to Elizabeth, her mom ripped this page out of the menu. It is probably a good thing for the restaurant. You wouldn’t want to advertise that you have a victimized rabbit.
Posted in Grammar, etc., tagged Apostrophes, Bright ideas, Bureaucrats, Definitions, Food, Media, Peeves, Signs, Spelling on August 16, 2010| 1 Comment »
I must confess that I am jealous of Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson. “Who are they?” you might ask. If you did, then you are not one of the dozen or so people who have sent me the link to all the coverage of their amazing book, “The Great Typo Hunt.”
I used to read their blog, but now the blog seems more focused on their amazing book tour. A book tour. For writing a book about noticing and fixing typos. SIGH.
Maybe someday “Eats, Shoots and Lays” will be a book. But until then, I must be satisfied with noting errors on a small scale.
Lucky me, there is no shortage of errors.
In today’s mail, there was a doozy:
AFLAC is a fairly big company, no? So they must have some senior folks in charge of their unsolicited mailings. Well, whoever these folks are, they need to revisit the rules for apostrophes.
I’ll go a little easier on the produce manager at Piggly Wiggly because the mistake is not quite as public. (It didn’t go through the U.S. mail on the cover of an envelope.)
Hmm … “Beefstake” tomatoes. Like really chunky, flavorful tomatoes grown on a piece of wood stuck in the ground? Or like “beefcake” — muscular, handsome tomatoes? Oh it’s a darn heterograph tripping up our friend in produce. “Beefsteak” is the word he/she needs.
Speaking of public, this is about as public as it gets:
Stay classy, North Carolina!
Posted in Grammar, etc., tagged Peeves, Requests, Signs, Students on August 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Let’s talk about intent. SCAD graduate student Charlotte (fiancée of my friend Nate) provided a visual aid for this topic exploration.
I’m sure the writer wanted to get people excited about UGA football. But what he/she has really done is offer tickets to specific dogs. What do they want with those? And how much is $10,0000? Is it really $100,000? Or $10,000? I’ll take either.
My friend Heidi provided another good example.
The writer probably does not want people to sit in that cushy-looking chair. But instead, the sign warns against a sit-in. What about picketing or rioting? Are those OK instead?
Posted in Grammar, etc., Random, tagged Atlanta, Bright ideas, Food, Kids, Parenting, Peeves, Rage, Spelling, Travel on July 29, 2010| 6 Comments »
Some friends of ours returned from Abu Dhabi for the summer, and wanted to take a family trip to Atlanta.
It was an opportunity we could not refuse.
We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn because of its proximity to the places we wanted to visit, and because Hilton was offering a package called “The Great Getaway” that offered free breakfast. Sign us up!
Here are the places we visited:
In addition to all the wonderful beasts of the waterways, the aquarium also has a whale slide. Billy, who is not a small man, decided he would try it out. Dominic said, “The whale’s gonna choke!”
Gideon and Mana enjoy some alone time.
It’s less a museum and more an educational Monkey Joe’s. Lots of screaming, running, banging, etc. And the kids made noise too (ba-dum-dum). Let’s just call it “collaborative learning.”
Gideon plays with the moon sand.
That place seemed so much bigger (and cooler) when I was an elementary school kid on a field trip. We saw the Galaxy Gameshow at the planetarium. I think the kids enjoyed it, but I don’t really know. I was asleep. And so were the other three adults. In fact, Eddie said as we left, “So we paid $12 for a nap?” Yes, yes we did.
Fernbank is to the American Museum of Natural History as CitiTrends is to Henri Bendel.
It’s my favorite mall in Atlanta, and I used to work in one of the clothing stores when I was in college. (I won’t say which store because it is just too embarrassing, even for me). We weren’t really there to shop, though. I had to get the hinge on my MacBook Air fixed. While I was doing that, everyone else ate ice cream.
The screaming stopped when they got ice cream.
This is my favorite hotel in the world, and I love this restaurant. It’s a little pricey, but it is worth it for the view.
Lunch over Atlanta
On the way there, I noticed this sign.
Only in the South, y’all.
No visit to Atlanta is complete without a naked dog with cheese, fries and an FO (Frosted Orange). Of course, then I slip into a grease-induced coma, but I don’t care.
The plan was to go to The Old Spaghetti Factory (cheesy but yummy and cheap) but it was closed. (For those of you keeping count, that’s the fourth of my favorite restaurants that has closed in the past year. Am I bad luck?) So we went across the street to Mary Mac’s. Despite it being an Atlanta landmark, I had never eaten there. It is Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room and The Lady & Sons restaurant in a larger environment. A butter-induced coma ensued.
There were two pools — one outdoor, one indoor — and a jacuzzi. With five kids in the party, though, there are bound to be time-outs, even at the pool. The award for Best Actor in a Dramatic Role goes to my son Gideon for his role in “Pool Party, Pity Party.”
Time-out, party of four
I found another lovely sign here also.
Does the “mangement” handle identifying the “persons with communicable diseases” using the pool?
Overall, it was a fun trip, but also very exhausting. I think Dominic would agree.
All tuckered out
Posted in Grammar, etc., tagged Bright ideas, Peeves on July 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »
For those of you who think people are too hard on Comic Sans, you can show your support for the font by wearing this:
(Thanks, Morgan!)
Posted in Grammar, etc., tagged Bright ideas, Bureaucrats, Requests, Signs on July 15, 2010| 1 Comment »
I received a forwarded e-mail with the subject line “I think Beth might like this one.”
It’s true. I do.
The e-mail originated with Jason, significant other of frequent contributor Shane Marshall Brown. And here is the photo:
Seen in Kalamazoo, Michigan
That sounds like an offer I can’t refuse. I could use $7,500 and 15 extra years. I wonder what kind of injury qualifies. Maybe a small flesh wound? I’m not so much into killing …
Posted in Grammar, etc., tagged Bright ideas, Definitions, Media, Peeves, Rage on July 9, 2010| 4 Comments »
Despite the fact that I don’t give a rat’s ass where LeBron James ends up, I have not been able to escape the news (Miami). Apparently, there are some folks in the Buckeye State who are pretty pissed off — folks like Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who wrote an open letter to fans of the Cavs.
I don’t really care about the letter, except to point out that someone should have proofread it with an eye toward unnecessary quotation marks. Take a look at this excerpt:
To make matters worse, that font is Comic Sans.
Posted in Grammar, etc., tagged AP Style, Media, Peeves, Rage, Savannah Morning News, Spelling on June 29, 2010| 2 Comments »
For weeks now, I have given a pass to Savannah Morning News and the consistent inability to be consistent in spelling a particular word.
No more.
I just can’t take another day of opening the paper and seeing this:
Every time someone at the paper writes about the incident on Tybee, the editors use “Tazed” in the headline, but allow “Tased” in the body copy. (Here’s the link to today’s article.)
The proper name of the electroshock weapon is “Taser.” So if the weapon was used on someone, the proper verb form would be “Tased.”
However, AP Style — which is apparently foreign to folks at the SMN — does not approve of verb forms at all.
Better to say, “Tybee police used a Taser on an autistic teenager May 21.”
Or if you are going to ignore AP Style, at least be consistent in spelling.
 | Beth on You like sarcasm? You’ll… |
 | Martha Kennedy on You like sarcasm? You’ll… |
| Beth on I’d like my taco to go … |
 | kfirebaugh2015 on I’d like my taco to go … |
| Beth on I’d like my taco to go … |
Observe and report 