Happy National Proofreading Day!

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.

Grammar Giggle – Convince Me!

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.

Grammar Giggle – Rihanna And The The Super Bowl

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.”

Grammar Giggle – It’s Purdy from Perry

In honor of the Super Bowl this weekend, here’s a recent football-related Grammar Giggle. I’m not a big fan myself, but it took me a few minutes to figure this one out. I know Perry High School is a local school and I thought it was a bit unusual that they mentioned Brock Perry while the people in the photo were wearing jerseys that said “Purdy.” I finally figured out his last name is Purdy and he went to Perry High School. The first line is just very poorly written. It would have been better to say “If the former two-time All-Arizona quarterback Brock Purdy leads the 49ers . . ..”

Grammar Giggle – Pure Bread Dogs

A Proof That blog reader sent me this one from her local newspaper. While consistency is good, the word should be “bred.”

And I couldn’t resist including this picture of real “pure bread” dogs because I knew someone would have done it already.

Grammar Giggle – Occutrousers

A friend sent this to me and it highlights the danger of “replace all” in documents. It is much safer to search and replace and stop at each instance to verify that it is indeed the word that should be replaced. Otherwise, you will end up with things like this and in a legal document, that could be very bad. So be careful and take the extra time to view the replacements you’re making.

Grammar Giggle – Geographically Challenged

After a long hiatus where life and work keep getting in the way, I’m back with more Grammar Giggles and proofreading information.

The latest example of someone not paying attention was when a flight that we had booked last July for a cruise out of Athens, Greece, was changed by the airline. See the errors below:

For reference, our original flight was to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then on to Athens. And I’m not sure how they expected us to get from Athens, GREECE, to Athens, Illinois, on the return trip. This is a major airline and I will have a hard time having them near the top of my list for future flights. As I always say–slow down and pay attention. It will help get the details right.

Grammar Giggle – Nothnig Is Not Correct

I went to a craft fair this weekend and saw this bag. It made me chuckle because I could totally relate to having all kinds of stuff in my purse that wasn’t mine when my kids were little, and then I saw the misspelling.

Grammar Giggle – Missing Dog . . . Or Cat . . . Or?

A reader sent this to me. It clearly says that a “dog” is missing; however, they have a picture of a cat and the description is a “Tuxedo Cat,” which pretty clearly shows that it is actually a cat that is missing. I’m sorry their fur baby is missing, but it might help people find it if the sign were correct.

Grammar Giggle – Happy Anniversary to Proof That Blog!

September 3rd marked the 10th anniversary of Proof That blog. It is sometimes hard to believe that there is enough new material to keep it going for ten years, but then it is really not that hard to believe. It’s also hard to believe there are people who are interested in proofreading and learning about common errors all these years later, so thank you for being one of them. I do appreciate every reader.

While we’re talking about anniversaries, here are some quick tips:

  • The anniversary of the day you were married is your “wedding anniversary,” NOT your “marriage anniversary.”
  • It is redundant to say “10th-year anniversary.” Saying “10th anniversary” is much clearer.

I encourage you all to go out and celebrate by correcting ten errors in someone’s writing today.