Category Archives: legal proofreading

Grammar Giggle – Pastrami Rubben

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I saw this sign while waiting for lunch at a local eatery. This might have been a choice for me because I love a Reuben sandwich, but I’m not sure what makes it a Rubben sandwich, so I went with something else.

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Grammar Giggle – Mac & Choose

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My sister sent me this from a website when she was researching potential food my husband (who is a sensitive celiac) could eat on a recent vacation we took together. She noticed this one offered “3-cheese mac & choose.” They obviously got it correct a few words before this obvious error, but because it is a “real” word, it doesn’t trigger spell check.

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Ask PTB – Drug Names–Caps or Not?

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A Proof That Blog reader asked this question:

“Hi Kathy! I need your help! Should I capitalize drug names in sentences: Fentanyl, Methamphetamine, Marijuana? The officers write in lowercase but to me, it is a proper noun, so it should be capitalized. Thank you!”

The actual tradenames of drugs would be capitalized, i.e., ADVIL, which is the trademark owned by PF Consumer Healthcare 1 LLC for their ibuprofen tablets, is capitalized, but “ibuprofen” is not. Since “fentanyl” is the type of drug (a potent synthetic opioid) and not the tradename, it is not capitalized. The tradenames for fentanyl include Actiq, Fentora, and Duragesic, which would be capitalized.

The same is true of methamphetamine. The tradename for that is Desoxyn, so that tradename is capitalized, but the actual drug name “methamphetamine” is not. Marijuana is not a tradename, but is a type of “drug,” so it is not capitalized.

Basically, if it is not the registered tradename of the specific drug but is the type of drug (as it looks like your work would primarily be), it would not be capitalized.

I hope that helps!

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Grammar Giggle – Non-Smiling Home

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I saw this recently in my Facebook feed. It looks to me like this was a Facebook autocorrect that wasn’t caught. It is really important to actually look at texts, posts, emails, etc. to make sure your electronic device didn’t decide it was smarter than you and change a word to what it thinks you wanted to say, even though what they chose was not even close. Just review it quickly, change anything you need to, and then press that big button to send it off. You will feel better knowing that what you are sending actually says what you want it to say and your friends, family, and others won’t wonder why you’re obviously upset and talking about a non-smiling home.

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Grammar Giggle – Spelling Matters!

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A friend sent this to me and I thought I would share it with you. In this case, a misspelling had a happy ending, but that certainly rarely happens.

Ida Holdgreve is credited with being the first female American aerospace worker. She was born in Delphos, Ohio, in 1881. In her 20s she moved to Dayton to look for work. She saw an ad in the paper that advertised for “Plain Sewing Wanted.” She was an excellent seamstress, so she answered the ad. It was, in fact, an ad for “Plane Sewing Wanted” by Orville and Wilbur Wright. Ida became the head seamstress at the Wright Brothers Airplane Factory, sewing the cover for the fuselage, wings, and rudders. Despite her work with airplanes, Ida did not take her first airplane ride until 1969 at age 88.

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Happy National Proofreading Day!

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Every year we celebrate National Proofreading Day. The holiday was started by Judy Beaver in 2011 in honor of her mother on March 8 (her mother’s birthday), as a fun way to remember her mother, who loved to correct people, and to remind people to proofread!

Thank you for all of your positive comments, topic suggestions, and grammar giggles that you’ve passed along for this blog. Hopefully, you are learning a little something. Please continue to send topic suggestions and grammar giggles my way so we can all continue to hone our proofreading skills.

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Grammar Giggle – Convince Me!

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I took this photo on a recent trip. I thought they meant “convenience,” but perhaps part of their business is to “convince” people to use tobacco and vape. Plus, since they are using “etc.,” it already includes a period, so you don’t need another one. It is really unfortunate that the sign is so big and so wrong.

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Grammar Giggle – Rihanna And The The Super Bowl

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This news article was in my feed just as the Super Bowl ended. It has since been fixed, but how many people saw it incorrectly. As I’ve said many times before, the best advice I can give to anyone is to slow down and read what you’re writing before you press “send.”

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