I love shopping on Etsy for unusual and special gifts. I probably should do it more often because every time I spend time there, I find some unbelievable error. Today was no different and this error is worse than most and actually made me cringe. While the sentiment is well intentioned, the grammar is just awful. Would someone really buy this?
I came across this while investigating getting my cracked windshield replaced. It is crazy that this is on the AAA website.
A reader sent this one to me. I’ve seen this same error more than once. I’m not sure if they rewrote part of the headline and forgot to change it to “has” or if they just didn’t know any better.
I captured this picture during a recent trip to the grocery store. It seems that the word “inconvenience” is pretty consistently misspelled on these types of signs. If you’re not positive about the spelling, and you don’t have access to a dictionary, find another word.
This one is from a response received in our office. Not only is the heading misspelled (because they likely have Word’s “ignore words in uppercase” option checked) but there is no apostrophe showing that the objections actually belong to the Defendants. Check your Word settings to make sure yours are set so that Word doesn’t think (incorrectly!) for you. It’s really difficult not to circle the errors with red pen and send them back.
This was in a Notice of Appointment of Arbitrator received in our office from our local Superior Court. Plural = NO apostrophe. Possessive = apostrophe.
When someone says “I could care less” we should understand that that means that they do care. If they could care less than they do right now, that means they actually care—at least a little bit. This led a blog reader to ask about other ironic phrases that are out there. Here are just a few:
The biggest lesson here is to learn constantly, read constantly, and be willing to revise what you believe if you learn that it is incorrect.
A friend sent this to me from an out of office email received from a Florida attorney. There’s something to be said for template language. Consistent messages within a firm and for every absence make things easier, but you still need to read the language to make sure it is correct. As a side note–always make sure to check the date to make sure it is current and correct so that it isn’t confusing.
I will be out of the office until Monday 8/7 and will not have access to my emails. If you need assistance, please contact X or Y. Thanks!
A friend sent this to me. Unfortunately, it is part of the City Clerk’s webpage for the City of Apache Junction here in Arizona. Apache Junction already has a not-so-great reputation in the Valley of the Sun, but it is my current home. I’m not sure how this actually got published as it is a hot mess.
“No 1”? Really? I assume they mean “No one is allowed.” Six words later, they are breaking the Gregg Reference Manual rule on spelling out numbers from one to ten unless the number needs to stand out to be comprehended or is in statistical information. I don’t consider that sentence statistical information nor do I think that the numbers need to be used instead of the words to be comprehended. Then, the comma after “jurisdictions” should be a semicolon since the sentence is two independent clauses and the comma could be replaced by “and.” It could also be two separate sentences, but the way it is written is confusing. Come on, AJ, you’re not doing your reputation any favors!
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