Intrepid RedPenner Sarah found this beauty in the Canisius College library. Love.
Overthinking things
Written By: admin
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Jul•
21•08
Sarah submits the following, saying:
At least they’re consistent… (from an antique mall in central NY)
Which raises my first question: Do we need a new category for antique stores?
I do wonder a bit… in both these cases one could mean “is.” Tea is so good (true statement) and tea is five for a dollar. I suspect this wasn’t the author’s intent, however.
Either way, the festively gratuitous quotation marks earn this one a gold star!
Who is Wave?
Written By: admin
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Jul•
14•08
As in other cases, I solemnly promise to beg Wave’s pardon, if there is such a person. Otherwise, I must mourn for the abuse perpetrated upon this apostrophe.
This is why I carry a mini-sharpie. (Just kidding!)
Written By: admin
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Jun•
19•08
The often-funny Stuff White People Like has a great entry today: “White Problems – Typos on Menus.” Best line:
It is the duty of every white person to correct typos. It is worth the risk of banishment to deliver proper grammar to those who need it.
I can only take issue with the implication that grammar duties are exclusively white. It is everybody’s duty, y’all. Grammar knows no race.
At least it’s *different* wrong…
Written By: admin
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Jun•
19•08
As Sarah notes:
At least this Facebook ad is CREATIVE in its mis-use of a form of “to lose” – usually people LOOSE their fat!
I’ve also decided to go ahead and add a new category! So keep sending your facebook/MySpace bloopers!
LOL or CIP?
Written By: admin
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Jun•
18•08
I’m going with CIP (that’s “crying in private”).
There are a couple things I’d red-pen on this sign if I were asked to do so, including the random insertion of double exclamation points in what is supposed to be a professional advertisement.
But double exclamation points and a tilde? Is this some hip new thing the youngsters are doing?
My thanks to Scott, whose MARTA ennui is probably worse than mine.
Bzzt! No RPB pin for you!
Written By: admin
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Jun•
16•08
And now, ladies and germs, a rarely-seen-in-the-wild gem: a perfectly correct* sign that has been edited by a wanna-be honorary RPB member! Because honestly, the only thing better than grammatical mistakes is sanctimonious and erroneous grammatical correction!
*Yes, okay, we can have a little debate about whether we need a hyphen in “well-stocked.” But there’s no argument to be made for the comma except that somebody wants to make me poke my eyes out with a spork.
Something they forgot?
Written By: admin
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Jun•
16•08
I assume that what happened here is that (insert store name here) went to (insert government agency name here)’s website and printed off this flyer. And all things considered there are worse things that could happen. But it’s an editing faux pas anyway… like applying for a job with a cover letter targeting a different company.
The 12-year-old in me is amused.
Written By: admin
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Jun•
16•08
This isn’t wrong, per se… it’s just wrong. You know?
