This email was sent to me by a friend who is on a paralegal listserv for our local community college. She thought they were advertising for an event that had already happened. When I was researching it, I found that it hadn’t happened yet. I guess as long as the month starts with an “M,” any month will do. This is an example of the things most people don’t pay attention to that are really important.
Copyright: / 123RF Stock Photo
Although The Gregg Reference Manual is my style guide of choice (and the grammar resource for NALS’ certification exams), I do enjoy seeing what the other style guides are doing. It could very well be a forecast of changes the other style guides will be making. The new Associated Press Stylebook is in the works and I recently saw an article on the Grammarly Blog about a few interesting changes AP is making in the new edition.
To “favorite” something on the Internet is to bookmark the link of a website address so you can return to that page quickly in the future. You have favorited proofthatblog.com, right?
According to Dictionary.com, “meme” is “a cultural item in the form of an image, video, phrase, etc., that is spread via the Internet and often altered in a creative or humorous way.” Examples are the posts of people lying down in public places (called “planking”) and videos of people dancing to the Harlem Shake. Digital posters, on the other hand (which I suspect are the ecards with different sayings using the same image that show up over and over again in your Facebook feed), are not memes (according to Wikipedia) at least “until it reaches approximately the same level of mass recognition as required for a person to be considered a celebrity.” I assume that The Most Interesting Man in the World who started out in the Dos Equis beer commercials and Grumpy Cat “digital posters” are now considered Internet memes.
Although it sometimes makes things difficult trying to keep up and encouraging others to do the same, I love that most style guides stay current with language trends. The English language is ever-changing and it is important that we keep up with the changes. As things continue to change and younger people become our readers, it is incumbent upon us to “speak” through writing in a language that they understand (within reason of course!).
Are there things you think should be changed? Leave a comment with your predictions for future style guide updates below.
With the start of the official baseball season last week, these Grammar Giggles are just on time. The first is from my son, who is a Cubs fan and has been his whole life. We spent many a spring training game day at Mesa’s Hohokam Stadium watching his Cubbies. Below are a few of the graphics that were used in the intro package that led into Chicago ABC 7’s broadcast of a recent Cubs game.
Looks like you left a letter out here . . .
and replaced a letter here . . .
but added an extra one here . . .
and then there’s this one. San Franscisco? Not only is the name of a major U.S. city misspelled, but I know very little about sports and even I know the Mariners are from Seattle.
This is shameful. This was part of a television presentation seen by potentially thousands of people and just goes to show that not a lot of care went into it.
The second baseball related Grammar Giggle is from my sister. This Hostess ad is just ridiculous.
Of course, Hostess claims it was intentional. Their marketing department said “The ‘Touchdown’ line was intentional; it’s fun and aimed at young audiences who are in on the running joke — which, of course, is the goalllll.” Uh . . . riiiiight!
I found this in a Google search for Easter grammar errors. Again, spelled correctly but the VERY wrong word!
A loyal blog reader sent this to me from a lunch menu she was recently selecting from. Since I don’t know Spanish, I won’t point out any errors that might be there, but there are several in the English portions of the menu.
I found this yesterday on Twitter. It reminded me of the “check to see if you any words out” meme, but this is actually worse and one of the hardest parts of proofreading. You know what it is SUPPOSED to say. Just be careful you’re not reading words into your work that you know should be there . . . but aren’t.
Email is not just a method of communicating with others over the computer. It is a reflection of you and your firm when you are using your company equipment to send emails to others—whether regarding work subjects or not. Email is just the same as sending a letter or any other type of communication. You need to make sure your message is clear and error free.
Keep these things in mind:
Who knew email was so complicated? It really isn’t complicated, it is just good common sense. And it is good business sense to make sure your email represents you and your firm in the best way possible.
This was sent to me by a reader last season. This is something that spell check might not catch. Don’t just rely on spell check! Obviously, newspaper editors don’t pay enough attention as headlines seem to be a constant source of Grammar Giggles!
A friend sent this to me. Sometimes when I see an obvious error, I check the keyboard to see if the letters are at least close or if maybe same finger, opposite hand issues. In this case . . . nothing.
I got this question from a reader:
My boss used a lot–and I mean a lot–of postscript messages in his letters. They range from one paragraph to 4 or 5. These paragraphs are lengthy. What are your thoughts on the use of postscript in a business / legal correspondence?
My initial thought is that in today’s electronic world, postscripts (or a PS at the end of a letter) are completely unnecessary because if it is an important part of a letter, it should be included in the body of the letter. I understand the need for a postscript in a handwritten multi-page letter where you might have forgotten something, so that you could add it at the end without redoing the entire letter, but not in a computer generated business letter. But what do the experts say?
The Gregg Reference Manual says that effective use of a postscript will emphasize an idea that was deliberately left out of the body of the letter and will bring special attention to it. On the other hand, your reader may feel that your letter is poorly organized. Think about whether that is a chance you want to take.
To me, I visualize the use of postscripts as a list on a piece of paper and then one Post-it note with an addition to the list, and then another Post-it note, and another until the list is obliterated by Post-it notes with extra information.
If you’re going to use a “PS” for a particular purpose, leave a blank line between the copy notation and the PS and include a colon and one or two spaces after the “PS.” By the way, it is not “P.S.” (with periods) anymore since “postscript” is now spelled as one word.
Do you have a nagging question that you would like answered? Leave it in the comments below or send an email to [email protected] and I will do my best to answer your question.
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