Our inbox is overflowing today!

This next item was submitted by Tynitra W, who found this Oldie But Goodie in an AP article titled, "Obama: Dems Lack Votes for Timetable":

"Bush has said he's basing his plan on the advise of the nation's military leaders." (emphasis ours)

Advise, the verb, is not technically a homograph for advice, the noun, but it looks like one, and failure to detect the difference can be the source of much confusion.

This Golden Oldie earns the following Drunken Proofreading rating:
*** (three stars) - I needed a shot just to look myself in the mirror this morning.

We are also pleased to announce that we have inspired our very first piece of ad hominem criticism from a total stranger who somehow found us online. We have been accused of pedantry, which we dispute only in the sense that part of a pedant's offensiveness has to do with a seeming lack of self-awareness. We, on the other hand, are aware of our tendency to hairsplit, and believe it to be part of our charm.

In which we take a short break from flogging the AP

We'd like to thank Grady W. for bringing this article-noun disagreement to our attention.

Grady found this error in a Times Online (UK) article titled, "Police push for charges against Madeleine McCann's mother as case goes to prosecutor":

"She would also face a charge of concealing a Madeleine’s body." (emphasis ours)

As a proper noun, Madeleine does not require an article. If the sentence were talking about Madeleine cookies, the singular article a might be appropriate; however, it is not yet a crime to hide a cookie, so the sentence would be illogical. This mistake is doubly shameful because it takes a subject that is grim and awful and makes it...silly. We trust that the good folks at The Times will be more vigilant in the future.

This gaffe merits an "Oops! Is my lazy showing?" and earns the following Drunken Proofreading rating:
**** (four stars) - Yesh, I take thish waterbottle everywhere I go. It'sh water. No, you can't have any.

What's wrong with this picture?

Many thanks to Christina W, who submitted this photograph for our review.

It's almost a shame to pick on this sign as it seems so clearly to be the product of a non-native English speaker. In that spirit, we're introducing a kinder, gentler subcategory: Totally Giggleworthy. We're not going to pick on the glaring spelling mistake or the AutoCorrect Syndrome-type error. However, we can't resist posting the photograph because it's so completely, well, giggleworthy.

If the stress of your work day gets to be too much for you, we suggest bookmarking this page. Please, take a mental vacation on us to a world where only the people who help rock stars into and out of their clothes between songs can use the facilities.

Now Accepting Submissions

We will be happy to consider any items you would like to submit for publication. If you come across something you'd like included, please let us know (even if you can't exactly pinpoint what's wrong).

Send your submissions to grammarsnark@gmail.com.

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