We found this poorly punctuated gem in a WSJ.com article titled, "On Mileage, Car Makers Offer a Hybrid Message":
"Auto makers contend tougher regulations won't necessarily get Americans to switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles, and point to American's love for their trucks."
The Wall Street Journal might be a new dog in these parts, but this is an old trick: noun-possessive pronoun disagreement. The responsible parties got it right with Americans in the first clause, but it appears that the challenge of making a plural noun possessive was their undoing in the second clause. All of a sudden, we're thrown into confusion. Are we talking about a number of Americans or one person named American? If only one person, whose trucks does he or she love? The auto makers' trucks? The trucks of the Americans referred to in the first clause? (Not to be confused with our friend, American.) And why does this have such an effect on the lobbying policies of the auto makers? With the misplacement of one little apostrophe before an s instead of after it, witness the resulting chaos.
With this apocalyptic mis-apostrophe, the Wall Street Journal earns an Oops! Is My Lazy Showing? and the following Drunken Proofreading rating:
*** (three stars) - I needed a shot just to look myself in the mirror this morning.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
What's Wrong With This Picture: Cardinal and Gold Edition
Although we have a particular fondness for the University of Southern California due to a familial connection, our unwavering sense of justice impels us to publish this item. In addition, we cannot resist the irony of a sign welcoming scholarship recipients that prominently features a spelling error. We have little more to say on this matter; we believe it speaks for itself. Spend a few moments pondering and we believe you'll see what we mean. 'Fess up. You've got a smile on your face.
This error merits the following awards:
- What's Wrong With This Picture?
- C for Creative Spelling
- Oops! Is My Lazy Showing?
This error also earns the following Drunken Proofreading rating:
**** (four stars) - Yesh, I take thish water bottle everywhere I go. It'sh water. No, you can't have any.
A Tasty Treat from MSNBC.com
In honor of Thanksgiving, which is less than a week away, we invite you to feast yourselves on the following delicious headline, which we found on MSNBC.com: "Where did all the Zune's go?"
We know that you, discriminating reader, are easily able to identify the error in this headline. It is not you, but the simpleton sitting next to you, that we address. Dear simpleton, dear charming dolt; you, who cannot remember that a word is pluralized in English with the addition of an s (and in some cases es) and made possessive with the addition of 's--and never the other way around--you give the American character its particular tang. You, and whoever is responsible for the publication of this headline.
It should be noted that this is an AP article; however, the headline appears to have been created by the good folks at MSNBC.com. (For example, the articles on the AP and Yahoo websites are both titled, "Zune 80 in short supply.") Thus, we declare the AP to be fully absolved in this matter; further, in the spirit of goodwill and charity inspired by Thanksgiving, we hereby grant the AP one (1) Get Out of Snark Free card. The next time we catch the AP napping (which will likely be next Thursday, about 30 minutes after dinner concludes), we will keep it to ourselves. However, we feel obliged to make an example of MSNBC.com (Thanksgiving is after all a sort of Puritan holiday), so we will award them with an Oops! Is My Lazy Showing? and the following Drunken Proofreading rating:
***** (five stars) - Whaaahhaa? Whodrankshaaallllthershcotch?
We know that you, discriminating reader, are easily able to identify the error in this headline. It is not you, but the simpleton sitting next to you, that we address. Dear simpleton, dear charming dolt; you, who cannot remember that a word is pluralized in English with the addition of an s (and in some cases es) and made possessive with the addition of 's--and never the other way around--you give the American character its particular tang. You, and whoever is responsible for the publication of this headline.
It should be noted that this is an AP article; however, the headline appears to have been created by the good folks at MSNBC.com. (For example, the articles on the AP and Yahoo websites are both titled, "Zune 80 in short supply.") Thus, we declare the AP to be fully absolved in this matter; further, in the spirit of goodwill and charity inspired by Thanksgiving, we hereby grant the AP one (1) Get Out of Snark Free card. The next time we catch the AP napping (which will likely be next Thursday, about 30 minutes after dinner concludes), we will keep it to ourselves. However, we feel obliged to make an example of MSNBC.com (Thanksgiving is after all a sort of Puritan holiday), so we will award them with an Oops! Is My Lazy Showing? and the following Drunken Proofreading rating:
***** (five stars) - Whaaahhaa? Whodrankshaaallllthershcotch?
Thursday, November 8, 2007
What's Wrong with This Picture: Special Video Edition
Here's a special video edition of What's Wrong with this Picture, brought to you by Mexicana Airlines. This commercial was shown on Saturday, October 27, 2007, on Fox Sports West in the mid-afternoon time slot.
**3:25 p.m. Note - we are currently experiencing technical difficulties with the video. Please be patient. We have been informed by YouTube that some monkeys are working on the problem.**
**3:49 p.m. Problem fixed! We believe. Thank you, monkeys.**
**Saturday, November 17, 2007, Update: Apparently YouTube was highly offended by Mexicana's error and has pulled the video content from its site. We say apparently because they did not offer us any explanation at all, so we are forced to draw our own conclusions. They do not seem to have the same sense of humor about these things that we do.**
Here's a still photo too, just for laughs:
Resisting the urge to rant and rave about all the problems in the world a simple spell-check can prevent, we have spent some time trying to dream up how this special spelling error occurred. Here are some of our ideas:
- "Fligth" is a new term created by Mexicana's promotions department to reward passengers taking their eighth flight this year. It is pronounced flyd-th (like heighth).
- The commercial is in actuality a secret message being sent from Max to 99 in conjunction with the search for the Tequila Mockingbird.
- Those crafty ad folks at Mexicana were trying to garner a spot on The Grammar Wall of Shame in the misguided belief that all publicity is good publicity. (To clarify, this belief is misguided only because they fail to realize that a spot on The Grammar Wall of Shame is actually equivalent to no publicity at all.)
While any of these options is a possibility, this spelling screw-up is most likely the result of an astonishing lack of effort and initiative on the part of a member or members of the professional writing world. Thus, you witness the birth of a new designation for this type of error: Phoning It In. In addition to being the first recipient of this designation, Mexicana Airlines has earned a C for Creative Spelling, an Oops! Is My Lazy Showing, and the following Drunken Proofreading rating:
**** (four stars) - Yesh, I take thish waterbottle everywhere I go. It'sh water. No, you can't have any.
**3:25 p.m. Note - we are currently experiencing technical difficulties with the video. Please be patient. We have been informed by YouTube that some monkeys are working on the problem.**
**3:49 p.m. Problem fixed! We believe. Thank you, monkeys.**
**Saturday, November 17, 2007, Update: Apparently YouTube was highly offended by Mexicana's error and has pulled the video content from its site. We say apparently because they did not offer us any explanation at all, so we are forced to draw our own conclusions. They do not seem to have the same sense of humor about these things that we do.**
Here's a still photo too, just for laughs:
Resisting the urge to rant and rave about all the problems in the world a simple spell-check can prevent, we have spent some time trying to dream up how this special spelling error occurred. Here are some of our ideas:
- "Fligth" is a new term created by Mexicana's promotions department to reward passengers taking their eighth flight this year. It is pronounced flyd-th (like heighth).
- The commercial is in actuality a secret message being sent from Max to 99 in conjunction with the search for the Tequila Mockingbird.
- Those crafty ad folks at Mexicana were trying to garner a spot on The Grammar Wall of Shame in the misguided belief that all publicity is good publicity. (To clarify, this belief is misguided only because they fail to realize that a spot on The Grammar Wall of Shame is actually equivalent to no publicity at all.)
While any of these options is a possibility, this spelling screw-up is most likely the result of an astonishing lack of effort and initiative on the part of a member or members of the professional writing world. Thus, you witness the birth of a new designation for this type of error: Phoning It In. In addition to being the first recipient of this designation, Mexicana Airlines has earned a C for Creative Spelling, an Oops! Is My Lazy Showing, and the following Drunken Proofreading rating:
**** (four stars) - Yesh, I take thish waterbottle everywhere I go. It'sh water. No, you can't have any.
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