Presented With One Small Comment

Photo by AD

In their defense, the beverage does complete the meal.

(Thanks, AD!)

FRIDAY, December 19, 2012

It's Friday, and possibly your last office day of 2012 (as it is mine). Are you as excited about it as I am? Are you having as much of a hard time as I am staying focused? I have already made my list of things to do over the very short break, but I admit I'm mostly looking forward to not waking to an alarm every morning. I really hate that jerky little thing.

As 2013 looms ahead, I've been thinking about the future, and I'm very sad to report that I will, for the most part, be wrapping things up here at the spelling blog. I've had a FANTASTIC time sharing these crazy errors with y'all, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to dedicate to it the time it deserves what with the whole day job, and I hate having these posts up if I haven't given them all I've got. You guys deserve better! I want to thank all of you for checking in, sending submissions, and hanging in there during the past year! You guys are the best!

As submissions come in, I'll throw them up from time to time, in which case the automatic internet genies will automatically post them over at the Facebook, twitter, and tumblr pages. Keep an eye there for future posts.

Today's final Presented Without Comment is coming up, and again, thanks to all of you who've hung in there with me! It's been a blast!

When you see it...

My friend MLW just sent me an email which was kind of tough to link to, so I just made a screengrab, so you can have a little looksy.

That gift card thing seems like a good deal, no? 

At least they're consistent?

(Thanks, MLW!)

Link Roundup

Are you, like me, still working instead of off gallivanting somewhere for the holidays? I'm sorry. Here are some links to check out to help pass the time.

This error in this article is only noticeable if you parlais Francais. If we assume the gender indicated in the title is correct, then the verb in the second line of the first paragraph is incorrect. Which is especially sad seeing as how it's correct in the title. But, more importantly, the first line of the first paragraph says that the wine arrives tonight. Which means that you'd likely want the present tense of the verb, and not the past tense conjugation, so this seems all wrong to me. I think he wants to say the wine "is arriving" tonight, but putting those two words together creates passe compose, or past tense. In French, you just use present, right? It's been a long time since I had to deal with this, so y'all just tell me what's what.
(via LA Weekly, h/t DD)

The Godfather of Soul deserved better, y'all.
(via African American Funeral Programs from the East Central Georgia Regional Library, h/t AW)

A rundown of the year in typos, mistakes and corrections. I'm proud to have shared some of them with you.
(via The Atlantic Wire, h/t JR)

And because that's how I roll, here's my latest post over on Lucky's website. I don't THINK there's anything spelled wrong in there, but maybe?
(via Lucky's website)

Options...

Yet another screengrab that I took without making note of where I found it. I'm a busy person. I have things to do. I have to screengrab and go!

I wonder what side I was checking out...

It's like an afterthought, all the way down there at the end. It seems a little cruel to force the VEGETARIANS to skim all the foods they'd prefer to avoid to get to their offerings, but there you have it. And then, when they get down there, it's not even spelled right. That's kind of an extra dose of mean.

Perhaps they were too busy divvying up their menu's beef, chicken, and pork offerings into their own sections. That's weird, right? Menus, man. Getting more complicated every day.

Soup's on!

Another gem from AB's office building's cafe. Is this how this person SAYS this word?

Photo by AB

Can you see it? It says DUNPLINGS. It is wrong. Also, isn't it very technically chicken AND dumplings? Or is the chicken in the dumplings? And has the word dumplings ceased to have any meaning for everyone else? Dumplings dumplings dumplings. It sounds like something you'd do to a ball. Like "I'm going to dumpling this ball WAY into the endzone." Like it's an add-on to fling.

Dumpling!

(Thanks, AB!)

AWKWARD

Another little gem from DD in a local newspaper. Have a look:

Screengrab by DD

DD informs me that the name of the town is, in fact, "Loveland," and not this wonktastic abomination. Hopefully, they were quick to fix this, so Mr. Nelson was able to screengrab his own moment of fame as it SHOULD appear, and not have to share an incorrectly-spelled image with his friends and family. As a teacher, I'd guess that would be the worst. Or even, as a human. Y'know.

(Thanks again, DD!)

Willkommen!

I took dance classes for a VERY long time. 15 years, to be exact. You'd probably never guess it by looking at me today, but if you watch me walk, you'll see it. I still walk in first position. I started ballet classes when I was 3 years old, but never put any real effort into it until I was about 11, when I realized that I might soon get to wear pointe shoes. That was, of course, the whole point (BAM). I liked ballet, but I was always better at jazz, which was a bit looser and freer, and didn't need me to kick my leg quite so high, which I was never able to do. I am, I think it's safe to say, not built to be a dancer, but I always loved it, and still miss it. I can't really even imagine taking classes now. I might collapse from the strain.

All that being said, it was a fairly classical studio, with classes in ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, and gymnastics. I think the most risque we ever got was the year we did Thriller, but most of the girls in the class barely even had hips yet, so the dancing wasn't all that scintillating. OH! There was also a group that did a dance to "Li'l Bitty Pissant Country Place" from Best Little Whorehouse in Texas one year for the recital, which I found quite shocking at my age, but y'know, looking back, it was probably pretty tame. It just wasn't a very saucy group of people.

So, I was surprised when I received this photo and it said it was a group from a dance center. Is this what the kids do at the dance centers these days? My, my. I'd guess even the kids know how it's supposed to be spelled, though.

Check the date on the posting. Almost 2 years old, and on it lives. Welcome to the Caberet CABARET, y'all! Don't be a stranger.

(Thanks, DD!)

Too early!

Those of you out there who are teachers - at what age do we learn the rule? Around 2nd grade? Say it with me now.

I BEFORE E EXCEPT AFTER C

Have a look:

screengrab by KG

Note: googling has revealed that "Buy Broken Arrow" is an event, and not also a mistake, so ignore that. But recieve most certainly is a mistake, and one spellcheck should have caught. RECEIVE. It makes me very uncomfortable when places misspell things in ads marketed to kids still in school. There's still time for them to internalize something that's wrong. Don't do it, company! Don't teach the kids the wrong stuff. Prom has its own questionable issues. This shouldn't be one of them. 

Be better! Try harder! Ugh. 

(Thanks, KG!)

Weretransfer (like werewolf, but different)

Ok, I clipped this thing a few weeks ago, and I have no idea where I saw it. Clearly, it was on one of those transfer websites, but which one? No clue. Yet another example of not being saved by spellcheck, because this is certainly a word. Just not the RIGHT word.

Features that are useful = upgraded ($$) plan. SIGH.

Recipients is a difficult word! And they got it right! WHERE is not, and it's missing a letter. Maybe it got transferred somewhere! I hope it isn't password protected. We'll never see it again.

Presented Without Comment

Photo by MR

(Thanks, MR!)

Friday, 12/14/12

Well, it's not 12/12/12, but that means that it's also not Friday the 13th, so there's that. Another week closer to my week off from work! Yay! For those of you that celebrate, I hope you've had a lovely Hanukah this week, and for those of you looking forward to Christmas, I hope you've got your shopping done, and you can relax from here on out!

I'm still debating how much time I'll take off around the holiday. Whatever it is, y'all will come back in the new year, right? Thanks for sticking with me this long!

As always, please keep an eye out for submissions. You can get them to me via Facebook, twitter, or email. Also, don't forget the new tumblr page. Not much going on over there yet, but it is set to auto-update, so if that's something you're into, maybe you'll be into...um...that. Yeah. That went nowhere.

It's Friday! My company's holiday party is today! Today, we bowl. Because nothing says the holidays like bowling, right?

Also, have a peek at my latest Lucky posts, from last week, and this week. Yay!

Have a great weekend y'all, and see you Monday!

Presented Without Comment coming up soon!

When you see it...

Back again, my new feature, "I couldn't think of anything clever to say..."

AHEM.

When you see it!

It's really kind of embarrassing for them. Kinda bad planning.

Photo by AD

Sadly, I don't know how to ente, but I'd be happy to wait there.

(Thanks, AD!)

BRUNCH!

Look, I don't mean to brag, but I have TWO brunches with friends planned this month. TWO. That's two opportunities to eat delicious breakfast foods while gossiping and being silly. There are very few things that could top that.

In the planning of one of the brunches, emails were flying back and forth with links to recommended restaurants. Where should we eat our delicious breakfast foods? Should we try a new place? Stick with something we know? It was a very exciting time, reading all those menus. That's when I stumbled upon this:

Quirky

There are two issues here. One, that every features an R where a V should live. But also, this is an instance where every and day should be two separate words. Basically, everyday is an adjective used to describe things that are commonplace. "Those are my everyday dishes." There's a good description here. Every day means each day, which is what's being said here. "The sycamore kitchen is open every day..."

Also, if you're going to capitalize Friday, you could show Monday some love, too. I mean, very few people like Monday, but it's still a day, regardless of your feelings.

BTW, that's the restaurant I'll be dining at Sunday. What should I get? All of it, right?

(Thanks, JR, for sending the link!)

Gross

As some of you may know, I am not an adventurous eater. There are a few reasons for this that I won't really get into here, but suffice it to say, eating with me can be an adventure in repetition. I like the same things over and over again. Also, I'm a cowardly cook. I hate trying a new recipe because I'm convinced I'll screw it up. I don't really have a lengthy history of ruining recipes, but my brain has decided I'm a hazard in the kitchen, so it's tough for me to break out of my rut. When I do, though, you can be sure I'll take to twitter to ask questions about EVERY step of the recipe. I like to have full clarity. It's a quirk.

So, when they cook dishes on the daytime talk shows, I usually kind of ignore it. Chances are, it won't be something I'm interested in. And if I had seen this dish being prepared, I probably would have actually changed the channel. There is no faster way to lose me than to put olives in a dish. Any kind of olives. Even these.

Photo by DM

For the record, I googled geen olives to see if anything came up, and I got the "showing results for green olives" thing from google, after which you can almost hear it snickering at you. I sometimes wonder if google worries about me sometimes, with all the idiotic stuff I google for the blog. But then I figure it's probably just happy to be doing its job, right? A searched google is a happy google. Or something.

(Thanks, DM!)

Bread and cheese!

Sometimes it seems to me as though going gluten free is more of a fad than a necessity. Of course, there are people who need to be gluten free. But some days it seems like people are turning their backs on gluten just because other people are doing it, and that kind of surprises me. I mean, would you give up bacon because other people did it? No, you wouldn't. But gluten? Apparently that's a thing people can live without. Me, I only give up foods I am required by my system to give up. That's how I said goodbye to red meat. So sad. I miss it terribly.

ANYWAY, gluten free. It's a thing now. Unfortunately, dictionaries have apparently not gotten the memo. I mean, that's the only thing that could explain this, right?

Photo by JR

GLUTEN. With an E. Feel free to look that bad boy up on the internet, menu crafter.

But let's talk about something else. Namely, blue cheese. Or bleu cheese, as I think I'd spell it. I understand that blue cheese is perfectly acceptable, since they mean the same thing. But, cheese people, is there a difference? Or is it more of a champagne/sparkling wine difference? Enlighten me, please. Je voudrais comprendre.

Merci!

(Thanks, JR!)

Cconfusion

My friend EA is a professional communicator, so she was especially horrified to see this in her local newspaper.

Screengrab by EA

It's a tragic story, one that deserved a little more time spent on the composition and grammar of the language, to give it the respect it's due.

But really, this should have been caught by spellcheck, because RECOMMENDS is the correct spelling, and two Cs is just wrong. How odd that it wasn't, or that it was ignored. And continues to be, if you take a look.

(Thanks, EA!)

Come fly with me!

Everyone looks at the Skymall catalog when they're on a plane, right? You can't not. And sometimes, they have something in there that you do kind of need for your friend who gardens and/or loves Lord of the Rings. Or who has a pet that loves gadgets. Of course. Everyone has that friend, right? Sometimes you are that friend. Embrace it.

Anyway, it's easier to shop for those things when you get home, and you can break out your credit card. So, you head to the website. And that's when you see this.

Screengrab by AJ

I'm pretty sure that if I checked with some inventors, they'd take a pass. Y'all know this is one of my pet peeves. Not every S gets an apostrophe! I don't understand why that's so hard to remember! Sometimes, an S is just an S. It doesn't deserve special treatment, or get a special hat to wear.

Someone, tell the children. They need to know. For the future.

(Thanks, AJ!)

FRACK

I have been known to have strong opinions on movies from time to time. I work in the industry, though not on movies, but I have an idea of what goes on, so I think I know what's what. I have been embarrassed by my opinioning once or twice, most notably when I may have made a couple of retching noises when a movie ended, only to learn a few minutes later that the director of said film was sitting just across the aisle from me. Lesson learned! I always take my opinions outside after a screening now.

But regardless of your thoughts on film, the entertainment industry, the level of pretension auteurs display, all that what-have-you, I think you and I can agree that there really shouldn't be incorrectly-spelled words in movies. I mean, literally hundreds of people see movies before they are released to the general public. SOMEONE should catch these things. And yet...

My friend GH sent this to me. It's from the "Promised Land" trailer. Have you heard about this movie? You can check out the IMDb page here. Total awards bait, with it being in limited release on Dec. 28. Just makes the cut off. The rest of America will get to see it January. The movie does look interesting, and it has a good batch of people that worked on it, so I'm optimistic. Except for this one thing...

It looks like he's watching a movie in a closet, right?

AFFECT, NOT EFFECT. SIGH. Affect is the verb. Effect is the noun. SERIOUSLY. This is a screengrab from the trailer, which you can see in its entirety here. I like to think that Matt Damon's face has this horrified look on it, as though he just CANNOT BELIEVE what he's seeing here. Like "I don't know much about this fracking thing, but you have GOT to be kidding me with that effect BS. That is just sad and stupid. I wrote this! My name is in the credits at least 3 different times! Please don't embarrass me, graphics people."

I mean, *I* don't know much about this fracking thing, but at least I can tell the difference between a noun and a verb, so I've got that going for me.

(Thanks, GH!)

Obviously

I can't even describe to you how much I'd enjoy a personal shopping experience. Or rather, excuse me, a Personal Shopping Experience. That just sounds awesome to me. In my head, it's a lot like Pretty Woman. I sit down, and am handed champagne while people come at me with clothes they think I should try on, and then they style them for me, and I pick a selection, someone else pays, and I walk out, bags in hand. I mean, that sounds great, right?

If I were to attend some sort of auction, that's what I would bid on. And if were a retailer at an auction, that's what item I would want to present. My company would get lots of press, and maybe some people who weren't familiar with my company would get to know us. I'd want to make sure word got out correctly, so they could look us up later. Which means something like this would really kinda piss me off.

Photo by KG

If I attended this auction, and that was my item up for bid, I would be RAGING right about now. Do NOT spell my company's name wrong. Proofread your work before it gets printed. This is clearly just a typo, but now it's out in the world, and someone's yelling at your boss, which means it's going to trickle down to you eventually.

Don't let this happen to you. Proofread, people! Get someone else to help you, too! Don't just do the work. Do the work PROPERLY. It can make a world of difference. And maybe save your job, if you've got a touchy boss.

(Thanks, KG!)

Presented Without Comment

Photo by MR

(Thanks, MR!)

Friday, Friday, yay!

I don't know about y'all, but I have two more weeks to survive before I get some time off for the holidays, and I could NOT be happier! I might even survive those two weeks! That would be handy.

The holidays are a great time to spot seasonal signs with horrific misspellings on them, so keep your eyes peeled! If you see something, please send it my way. Links over there to the right. Thanks!

I hope you all have a great weekend! Stay tuned for today's awesome Presented Without Comment, and I'll see y'all on Monday.

I take it all back!

I think we can all agree that this whole thing has been a tragic tale, for a number of reasons, but there's no need for that headline to add insult to injury.

Screengrab by JR

The really sad part is the story was posted back on Nov. 20, and no one's ever fixed it. And let's not even get into the issues with the story itself.

(Thanks, JR!)

Busy bee!

Two submissions from JR today! First up, this weird sign thing she spotted on Facebook.

I'm always a little leery of using these signs right from Facebook, or anything, for that matter, if I don't know who took/created it, but sometimes, they're just too good to pass up, right? I mean, what is with that? A comma and an apostrophe are not interchangeable things! Nor did busy deserve a capital B, but I at least get that.

And seriously, I AM busy. I think this is a little disrespectful to those of us who have fairly all-consuming jobs. Rude sign makers who can't even deploy a proper apostrophe. YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE!

Ahem. And just as a reminder, if you send me something random like this, please also let me know the source (website, FB page, friend's camera) so I can try to get permission to run it. Thanks!

(Thanks, JR!)

Out on the town

In my head, this sort of rolls of the tongue, all fancy and foreign:

Photo by CP

But on the page, it just sort of looks stupid. Like someone perhaps has a twitch. Apparently, date night will be short and squat and stretched to widescreen, which should give you more room for your steak dinner, at least.

Wait, is that a steak dinner? Or fish? It's hard to tell given the unnatural dimensions. But look at that fork! That's a fork of Crocodile Dundee proportions!

And now you know I'm old. Yay!

(Thanks, CP!)

It was raining, at least.

This past weekend, I went to a restaurant called "Salsa and Beer," and I didn't have any beer. I was concerned that I broke some sort of rule. But as I explained yesterday, I just really wanted a Coke.

ANYWAY, when we got there, this was in the parking lot, and I made quite a production out of getting a photo. Here's why:

Why a gorilla? With a cap? 

At least the name of the company is correct, right? And for the record, the name of the organization they were sponsoring was also spelled correctly. The only thing they blew was "Sponsored By."

The sad part was the sponsored organization was with a school. You can sort of picture the teacher coming out of the school, taking one look and being all "Um, thanks. That's...great." I mean, how do you turn down a trailer for your group? Or the paint job? I'm not sure you can.

DRINK!

This submission is from the same restaurant as the previous post. Apparently, they have a fairly tenuous relationship with proper grammar and spelling.

Photo by CP

Again, I'm rather impressed by the dedication, at least. I mean, if you're going to go, go BIG. COMMIT. Which this restaurant has done in fine form.

Well done?

(Thanks, CP!)

Spirit of St. Who?

I've gotten so many submissions from wonky menus lately that we almost had a whole week of food-related fails. It's just sad. But I'm glad to see so many of you getting out to new restaurants! Have you had anything good? What about a drink? Do you have a drink with dinner? I sometimes prefer to just have a Coke, because I cut back on Coke a while back, so I treat myself when I'm out. I LOVE Coke. No diet. Bring on the full sugar. I might, from time to time, have a beer. Maybe one of these options?

Photo by CP

Sad, right? Like I said. To get it right once, and screw it up the other two times is, in a way, impressive. I mean, you really have to TRY, don't you? You have to selectively NOT see the correct one.

Now that's focus.

(Thanks, CP!)

He did what?

This is just a fantastic example of when spellcheck can't save you.

Photo by MR

Check out that last sentence. This paper is apparently averse to the phrase "pistol whip," for one, and doesn't proofread their articles with human eyes, for two. Because feeling is, of course, a word, but not the one that was needed here.

Do people not know what pistol whip means? I mean, I watch a lot of Law & Order, so maybe regular people (who have different viewing habits) don't. Do you?

(Thanks, MR!)

Little (older) Women

My friend AW sent this to me over the weekend. It's from, I think, the new Lifetime movie "The March Sisters at Christmas," which is a modern retelling of Little Women, sort of. Basically, they take the March girls and place them in modern times and force them to make repairs to their home to prevent Marmee from selling it. Or something. Here's the description. Because what you're looking for in home repair is for the work to be completed by your totally inexperienced teenagers.

ANYWAY, I sent a note to AW to ask what this is, so I'm not sure. But I'm guessing it's about Beth, since it involves music. And I've nicknamed it her Life Goals Flower. Because what else is it?

Photo by AW

Here's a tip, Beth. Before you apply to Berklee, you might want to look up how to SPELL IT. Sometimes colleges can be a bit persnickety about these things. Perhaps the way your story ends in the original book is better for you in the long run, if this is what you're going to do with a second chance.

(And for the record, even if she meant UC Berkeley, it's still spelled wrong.)

(Thanks, AW!)

Presented Without Comment

Photo by KG

(Thanks, KG!)

FRIDAY!

You know how the week before a holiday seems like it's taking FOREVER? The week after a holiday does, too. And, well, all the other weeks as well. What I'm saying is, this has been a pretty long week, and I, for one, am glad to be done with it.

Please be sure to stay in touch using all those handy links over there at the right, and maybe check out the new tumblr, even though not much is going on yet. I'm trying!

Did I post this Lucky post? It snuck in right before Thanksgiving.

If you're heading out to the mall this weekend to conquer some holiday shopping, I wish you the best of luck. I plan to do all my shopping virtually, so I don't kill anyone that bugs me. It's safest for everyone.

Stay tuned for today's Presented Without Comment, and have a good weekend! See y'all Monday.

Link Roundup

Here are some fun grammar and spelling shenanigans from around the internet, for your time-passing pleasure.

You can almost hear the annoyance in the woman's voice when she confirms this typo. I don't blame her. I'd be livid myself.
(Thanks AD, via Peninsula Daily News)

I'm a casual sports fan at best, and even I know hockey only has 3 periods.
(Thanks, MG, via Yahoo Sports)

A little late, but check out these TJ's stickers with the awesome typo, and then HuffPo has a little confession to make as well.
(Thanks, JR, via Huffington Post)

It's bad enough to have to get a stupid tattoo when you lose a bet, but to have that tattoo have an apostrophail in it? Epic tragedy.
(Thanks, AW, via OutKick the Coverage)

And in other sports fan news, a young woman who may have attended my own alma mater has a little problem dealing with the (wo)man in the mirror.
(Thanks, AD, via Deadspin)

And finally, this is why you DO NOT create jokey graphics while you're sitting around in an edit bay. Because mistakes happen, and all of a sudden they end up on TV.
(Thanks, JG, via Raw Story)

Small victories

A little good news for your Thursday morning!

Cemetery is a tough word because you really do want to spell it the way it sounds. It's one of those words I don't get AS worked up about, but since it's a commonly misspelled word, it's reasonable that people can just remember. I may have just talked myself out of staying calm about this one. Hmm...

Regardless, this article's headline started life looking like this:

screengrab by DD

But they've fixed it! Hurrah! Every little success fills me with glee! You gotta find your happiness when you can, right?

Well done, newspaper people.

(Thanks, DD!)

Showstopper

AS is on a roll this week! I've posted something from her every day this week! AS, thanks for keeping an eye out! I hope you enjoyed your trip to NY, where you spotted this:

Photo by AS

What's really sad here is that Garlic Mashed Potatoes is spelled correctly when it's paired with the chicken. But on its own? It can't even keep all its letters. It's like the Eponine of side dishes. All alone again, no H to turn to. It isn't even on Facebook, so it can't like them for a free drink! And it could really use one.

Maybe it can hang out with Seasonal Vegtable, and they can work together to earn enough money to buy themselves the letters they lack. NY is a tough town, but those kids are just crazy enough to make it work! They could put on a show! A dramatic piece. "Potatoes & Veg: A Brief History of the Irish Diaspora"

I mean, who wouldn't want to see that? They'll have their letters in no time.

(Thanks, AS!)

FLAMES

This one's a bit blurry, but have a look:

Photo by AD

I made that nice and big, so hopefully y'all can see it. That is some pretentious nonsense right there. I am just not this heavily invested in the food I eat. It's far too much effort. Especially if your menu involves some sort of historical novella about where my food is from. We aren't new friends or coworkers. I don't need to know anything about my food. It's going straight into my tummy. I realize that this information is VERY important to some people. But I don't think MOST people care. I think it's right around not that many to some. Am I wrong? Maybe. But when you spend that much time sourcing your proteins, you lose sight of what's really important. Or maybe you just run out of steam, and this happens.

Photo also by AD

Sure, the E and the D are right by each other on the keyboard. And I can totally understand that even if you did hire a proofreader, that person's brain cells might have simply shut off by this point. But c'mon. Prometheus makes it through, but WILD can't catch a break? That's pretty darn close to pathetic.

I didn't see any other errors here besides the period after additional in the last line. Did you? Did I miss something? It's just so MANY WORDS. That are DULL.

(Thanks, AD!)

Something new...

Because I'm starting to be REALLY slammed at my day job, and NOT because I'm lazy, I'm going to try this new thing from time to time. It's not that new, actually. Other people on the internet use it regularly, so really, I'm a thief. A busy, lazy thief! Oh, well. Let's get on with it, right?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: WHEN YOU SEE IT...

Photo by DH

And another shot, just in case:

Photo also by DH

You guys don't need my help with this, right?

Also, I really love the phrase "fiscal cliff." It's so dramatic and silly and effective.

The BEAST

Most people have a pet peeve or two. Y'know, something that's relatively minor, or doesn't bother many other people, but it drives you absolutely INSANE. One of mine, as you may have guessed, is spelling words incorrectly when they're so easy to look up. Another is lousy grammar, especially from a professional communicator. For example, a person who writes press releases should be able to properly assemble a sentence, don't you think? Or a journalist. You'd think that crew would know more than most. Of course, editors should catch their mistakes, because of course, there will be some, but editors are a dying breed, and journalists know this. Therefore, a little more care should be taken, especially if you're leaning heavily on the copy of a press release.

screengrab by AS

When AS sent this in, she assured me that this drives her NUTS. Actually, she described this as her biggest bete noir in the grammar world, which is a marvelous turn of phrase! That comma is absolutely unnecessary before James Franco. Here's an interesting article I found that describes this issue. Basically, if the identifier is identifying only one person in the WHOLE WORLD, then you'd use the comma. If not (more than one Academy Award nominee, natch), then there's no need. And yes, I'd also lose the hyphen.

I don't read Deadline, so I don't know their format, but nothing reeks of press release more than a movie title in all caps. Yick.

What about you guys? What's your grammar bete noir? Your grammar waterloo? What makes you crazy?

(Thanks, AS!)

Apartment hunting

Look, anyone who has a problem with dogs is officially Not Okay by me. But this kind of takes it to another level.

Photo by AS

As AS said when she sent this to me, maybe they mean that the cat is okay. But probably not. If you know someone that keeps making this mistake, adding an apostrophe to a word that is just plural, you should send them this photo. Make a joke out of it. "HA! How stupid is THIS person? Adding that apostrophe to a plural word! CRAZY!" Maybe they'll get the hint, and you'll have provided a valuable service. TO THE NATION.

(Thanks, AS!)

Play ball!

It's Monday morning, and we're all a bit bummed about being back at work after (for some of us) the long weekend. I'm just gonna lob this softball at you. Check it:

Photo by JR

If your child played in this league, which spelling error would concern you more? Or would you simply give up and choose between the varieties of Tiger?

This is just sad, right? I mean, we still believe the children are our future, no? Or did we just all of a sudden take a pass on that? Meh. Future, schmuture. I gotta go eat some ice cream. (There's more than one reason I'm not a parent.)

Happy Monday, everyone! 4 more weeks til the next chunk of time off!

(Thanks, JR!)  

Presented Without Comment

Photo by CP

(Thanks, CP!)

When Wednesday = Friday...

Today's the end of my week, my friends! I have the next two days off from work, though I have plenty of work to do, so I'll still be plugging away. I'm going to take the next couple days off from the blog in honor of American Thanksgiving, but I'll be back here Monday morning. If you celebrate, have a wonderful day filled with food and family. If you don't, have a great rest of the week!

In case you missed it, here's my latest post for Lucky! Some shopping tips for you, regardless of your size!

As always, please keep in touch via Facebook, Twitter, or email. I've also created a tumblr for the blog, and while at this point, it's just another place to see the posts, I hope to do more with it as I learn how to use it.

Thanks for sticking with me, y'all! Your Presented Without Comment is coming up shortly. See you Monday!

Fancy food

Good morning! I'm working from home today, so I decided to not get up as early as usual. I'm sure you understand.

Here, have a look at today's first submission, and then we'll talk:

Photo by KG

I tried to clean this one up a bit, but I kept making it worse, so I'm presenting it to you in its original glory. You have to read it a little carefully. I made it big, so hopefully, y'all can see.

I have lots of issues here. First off is the pumpkinization of America. I don't entirely approve. Except when cinnamon is substituted for the pumpkin flavor, and then it's fine. I also have my doubts about adding to curry to creme fraiche. That doesn't sound good to me at all.

But, of course, the spelling error here is with the almost-delightful dessert. While the internet tells me that sundae might be derived from Sunday, or at least, they both may have the same word of origin, they do not NOW mean the same thing. For dessert, go with the ice cream, and not the day of the week.

But hey, I also learned something today! I had to google pomegranate gastrique, since it sounded kind of made-up to me. It's not! It's a thing! Though I'm not sure it'd go with sage polenta. But you may be able to tell that I'm not really an adventurous eater. Have you had it? Is it delightful with polenta? I'll trust you.

(Thanks, KG!)

The part of the dice will be played by...

Newsweek is a fairly well-respected magazine, right? When I think of it, I don't think anything negative. So I was pretty surprised when I received this:

Photo by DI

Do you see it? Let me throw you a little arrow.

Photo still by DI

We've encountered this error before. Role = part an actor plays. Roll = of the dice. I feel like we should expect more of a respected news magazine. Even if they are probably overworked and understaffed. Y'know?

(Thanks, DI, and MJ for asking her to send it to me!)

Oh, the places you'll go

Listen. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that CARIBBEAN isn't a difficult word. I regularly want to add an extra letter or two. I haven't, however, wanted to add THIS extra letter:

Photo by JR

All those challenging city names are correct, but Caribbean gets an extra N. Ok, sign. Maybe YOU'RE the one that needs the vacation, is what I'm saying.

(Thanks, JR!)

Another kind of doomsday

I was inspired to start this blog by a number of spelling errors in graphics on TV shows. That's where the "houds" in Release the Houds comes from, after all! So, it's always fun when I can once again share with you an error in a TV graphic, since, as I said back then, I have a pretty good idea how many people saw this error before it made it on to my friend AAD's TV. I'm gonna guess at least 4, if not more.

Photo by AAD

AAD says this was on the show "Doomsday Preppers." I haven't seen it, but I can see how that might be interesting to hear about. And fortunately, none of the above words are misspelled. There's just one word missing. Do you see it? Or, rather, not see it? I'm sure this is one of those instances where your brain fills in what's missing, but it's impressive that so many people did that, and this graphic made it to air. Also probably very annoying for the producers. I know it would make me crazy. Which is why I never watch my own stuff on TV. I don't need that stress!

(Thanks, AAD!)

Casting call

I'm not going to lie to you guys. It can be really weird out here in LA. Someone is always trying to become the Next Big Thing. Unfortunately, people often have very odd ideas about what it means to be the Next Big Thing. To some, it means coming up with a brave, provocative story that has emotional resonance and gives the audience a greater understanding of a topic with which they were previously unfamiliar. To others, it means being naked on camera for an extended amount of time. To each his own, y'know?

So, when you're job hunting out here, you have to be careful. I mean, you never know when you'll stumble on something like this:

Provided by XB

Clearly, Jane and Peter aren't THAT frustrated with their love lives if they're suddenly engaged. Also, they are unlikely an igneous rock formation, which is what the internet tells me PLUTONIC means. PLATONIC is the correct word, and a bad sign if this post is from the writer of the film, who is, by all accounts, a lovely talented Young Woman. I mean, if you can't believe the internet, who can you believe?

I also find it interesting that Peter is not being cast. Is he not relevant? Is his struggle not worth the effort? Oh, Wendy and Jane. Do not leave your plutonic friend out in the dust like this. It will be centuries before he breaks down.

This is a whole lotta mess in one little package, and a great way to start the day. Enjoy!

Also, I trimmed off the contact info, but if you'd like it, you let me know.

(Thanks, XB!)

Presented Without Comment

Photo by JG

(Thanks, JG!)

Welcome to Friday!

Yet another week is behind us! And next week is a short one, at least for the Americans present. Yay, turkey! I'll be taking Thursday and Friday off next week, myself, so don't forget about me.

Stay in touch! Use the usual methods, of course. You can see 'em all over there on the right. I've gotten pretty bad about responding to emails/tweets/messages/etc, but I do get there eventually. This past week was INSANE at work, but it makes the weekend all that much more delightful.

In case you missed it, my latest post over at Lucky's website.

Y'all, have a fantastic weekend! Go see Breaking Dawn! Yay!

Today's Presented Without Comment is coming your way!

NOT AGAIN.

So, this happened. AGAIN.

Photo by JG

Can you see the problem? It's at the bottom. Here, let me embiggen.

Photo by JG

I don't even have it in me to complain anymore. Blah blah foreign company blah blah translate properly for other markets BLAH BLAH. LABEL is not table. It's wrong. Someone should have caught this. It's tragic.

I need a doughnut. And a nap. And then another doughnut.

So, what's everyone doing for Thanksgiving? Because I'm now just going to pretend like we're not losing the war.

(Thanks, JG!)

MAWWAIGE

So, remember when I explained that I took French instead of Spanish in school? It's about to pay off. YES!

In French, the easiest way to make a word feminine is to add an e to the end of it. Of course, this isn't always true, and there are exceptions, but it's a starting point. Now, you add the e even when the word ends in an e. Like, for example, fiance. If you're marrying a dude, he's your fiance. If you're marrying a woman, she's your fiancee. So, in this article, it's basically saying...

Screengrab by DD

that this dude is marrying a dude. NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT. But my point is, the story indicates his fiancee is a lady. Where's her extra e? He already possibly shot her! CAN SHE GET AN E, FOR PETE'S SAKE?

However, I will allow that this is some sort of AP rule I don't know about. Journalists, I ask you. Has the word fiance been standardized in the press? Share with me your knowledge!

(Thanks, DD!)

Sound good?

Yesterday at work we were having a conversation about Thanksgiving, and what everyone's plans are. Someone suggested we have a small potluck at work, and my Scottish producer said she'd bring her shepherd's pie in, which she said was one of her specialties. It's not a traditional Thanksgiving dish, but hey, I think we all were happy to be flexible where someone's specialty is concerned. And that reminded me of this menu clipping that CP sent in a couple weeks ago.

Screengrab by CP

To paraphrase what CP said, "I don't know who this Sheppard guy is, but he needs to stop going around making pies, and leave it to the shepherds." 

SO TRUE. 

(Thanks, CP!)

Trying something new...

My friend LR and I have started this new thing where we go out to a nice dinner at a place we've never been before. Ok, so we've only been once. But we have the best of intentions! A couple weeks ago, we met up at The Grove to give Gordon Ramsey's new restaurant The Fat Cow a try. I was not an instant fan, though I would like to give it one more try to be sure. I got the mac and cheese with lobster, and frankly, bacon would have been a better add-in. But there were other intriguing things on the menu, and eventually, I'll wander back over there.

While we were perusing the menu, I noticed a number of mistakes, but was too chicken to break out the flash in such a dark restaurant. LR, however, was happy to do so. And so, my friends, we all thank LR for her bravery in these challenging circumstances.

Photo by the lovely and talented LR

The major offender is the accompaniment to the Fish & Chips. Mushy pea's? Are you KIDDING ME? I mean, first off, peas are kind of the worst thing on earth. And THEN you have to shove an apostrophe in there? OY. But have a look a little further north, under the description for Buttermilk Fried Chicken, which may very well be thing I get the next time I go. Bisquits? That is not, so far as I can tell, the British version of BISCUIT. It's just wrong. WRONG, I tell you!

I would like to go off on some vitriolic, profane, Gordon Ramsey-style tirade here, but that's not how this blog rolls. It's a classy joint we got goin' on here. But that is how I FEEL. I mean, seriously. They spent a metric TON of money on the decoration of that restaurant. This is where they drew the line? "Nope! No more money will be spent. No proofreaders for us!" @#$%^%#$%^&*&%#$##$%^$@!!

Yuck.

(Thanks, LR!)

Utter catastrophe

I just can't even, y'all.

Screengrab by KN

Every single one of these ads has AT LEAST one thing wrong. The top one, of course, is the most glaring. You can't distract us with that random capitalization, ad. You totally left off 3 letters, and making the word feel special is just not going to cut it.

The second one features either a make-your-own crepe pie (which, what?), or a make-your-own call, depending on how you interpret whatever's going on there. I prefer to make all my own calls, but maybe that's just me. I have no interest in a make-your-own crepe pie. PASS.

Totally capital letter fail in the 3rd ad. It's just wrong.

But seriously, y'all. WTF is a crepe pie?

(Thanks, KN!)