Grammar Giggle – The Honorable or The Horrible?

A local judge shared this Twitter post from a Florida judge. This perfectly illustrates a couple of points that I feel are most important in our jobs. First, proofreading is really important–spell check would not have caught this error. Second, taking the time to look at your work product is well worth it. Take the time! Third, this is a really good example of the usefulness of a master caption file for every case–that is proofread multiple times–that contains information that attorneys don’t typically review like the case name, court name, attorney ID, service list, and judge name. This judge seems to have a sense of humor, but I’m pretty sure she will remember this in this case and with this lawyer and firm in the future. Always follow Judge Weston’s advice and don’t forget to proofread!

Grammar Giggle – Who’s Headline Is This?

A friend sent this to me from his news feed from a local news station. My favorite part is the comment. 🙂

Remember that “who’s” is the contraction for “who is,” which is not a replacement for “whose,” which is the possessive case for “who.” Here are some examples:

  • She is the one who’s [who is] scheduled to take the next two weeks off.
  • She is the one whose [who the car belongs to] car was wrecked in the parking lot.
News story with “who’s” used incorrectly.

Grammar Giggle – Geography is Fun!

I will be the first to admit that I am not great at geography, however, if I was the one in charge of putting together a graphic for something that potentially millions of people would see, I would do some research to confirm my facts. My daughter, who lives in New Mexico and grew up in Arizona, sent me this one. Arizona is the state with the squiggly line between it and California (otherwise known as the Colorado River) and New Mexico is more the square state with the tail. The shape of New Mexico is indeed correct, but their labeling is wrong because the state they are highlighting is New Mexico NOT Arizona, although I am sure they do, indeed, intend to highlight Arizona.

Grammar Giggle – School Troubles

I found this while I was making our annual tax credit donation to a local school. It looks like someone was in a hurry when they were putting together the information on the page. But this is really unacceptable to me. I set a much higher standard for learning institutions that are in charge of educating citizens. Misspelling “forensics” and “educators” means 20% of the choices in that dropdown menu are wrong. In addition, based on the other choices, it seems to me that the last one circled should be “Future Problem Solvers” unless there is only one member in that group solving all of the future problems. And speaking of only one member, apparently there is only one future physician in that club or it would be “Future Physicians’ Club.”

Grammar Giggle – At Least Get His Name Right!

I came across this one as I was looking for some information. It seems that if you are talking about an important person who has spent a significant amount of time in your industry, you would try to make sure his name is correct and make sure it is spelled correctly throughout. That is important not only in journalism but in the work we do as well. The very first thing a client will notice is if their name is misspelled. Just take the time to make sure names are spelled correctly. Also, the apostrophe in the second place the name appears is unnecessary and sounds inappropriate in this article. It should say “Luongo (spelled correctly) has also . . ..”

Grammar Giggle – Social Ssecurity Nnumber

My daughter-in-law forwarded this to me. It looks to me like someone was trying to make sure each word was capitalized but forgot to delete the extra letter resulting in duplication of letters. This is a good reminder to make sure that once you go through and make edits, check it again to make sure it is actually correct.

Grammar Giggle – Hero’s

I saw this when I was recently updating some contacts. An apostrophe does not make the word “hero” plural. That would take an “es” to make it “heroes.” The only reason to use an apostrophe in this word is if something belongs to the hero, for example, “He washed the hero’s cape.”

Grammar Giggle – Wrap Sheep

My daughter sent me this breaking news story. Not only is the name of the town spelled incorrectly (it is SantA Fe), but what is a “wrap sheep”? I’m fairly certain that what they meant to say was “rap sheet,” which is defined on dictionary.com as “a record kept by law-enforcement authorities of a person’s arrests and convictions.” This one actually did make me giggle because I keep picturing a sheep in wrapping paper and a nice bow. Again, I feel like this is a result of news agencies rushing things through to be the first out with the story, but surely someone could have taken the time to proofread the headline. Take the time!

Grammar Giggle – Queen Queek

Queen Creek is a local town near me. The first picture is from a daily email I receive with headlines that you click on to get the whole story. The second is the headline from the actual story that you are directed to when you click the link in the email.

It is always important to proofread everything so that the information is correct everywhere.