Thursday, April 30, 2009

their system is more offensively-oriented then St. Louis was

-- "Keeping up to speed" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 30, 2009

Another day, another then for than error in 24 hours' sports section. As a bonus, the writer puts a hyphen after an -ly adverb.

Veterans like Mattias Ohlund, Sami Salo and Willie Mitchell are complimented by the likes of Kevin Bieksa, Alex Edler and Shane O'Brien

-- "Why the Canucks can win the cup" on NHL.com on April 29, 2009

I'd rather not know this much about the affections Vancouver defencemen have for each other. Further more, this sentence seems to be out of place from the theme of the rest of the article; perhaps the writer meant to use the word complemented instead of homophone complimented. Also, maybe you, the reader, are wondering why Alex Edler's name is the only name that's not a link. I think it's because the writer didn't use Alexander's full name.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

agency said on Tuesday its was mobilizing its animal health experts

-- "Officials brace for more cases" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 29, 2009

At first I thought that the text was originally sans was, and its should have been changed to it after was's insertion. But then the first its should have been it's, so I'm at a loss. This is the start of the photo caption for a large front page photo.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

the idylic Alpine countryside

-- "Swiss canton bans nude hiking" on Yahoo! Canada News on April 27, 2009

After I stroll naked through the idyllic Alpine countryside, ban be damned, I'll stroll up to the writer of idylic and give her the business.

207000 block of 36th Avenue in Langley

-- "Van into house (local news briefs)" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 28, 2009

There is no such thing as 207000 block of 36th Avenue in Langley. My best guess is that an extra zero was added to 20700.

more concerned about the media then his own players

-- "Anxious for Round 2 action" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 28, 2009

Someone needs to talk to the 24 hours sports department at 24 hours because these then for than errors are getting out of hand. Please explain to the writers (and editors, if any) the differing definitions of then and than. It's never than for then., so I guess the writers figure then is a catchall.

America Ferrara

-- "Adele's star keeps rising" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 28, 2009

But 24 hours is not a fan of America Ferrera, hence the careless misspelling.

all the pressue is on Washington

-- NHL.com homepage on April 27, 2009

Was their intense deadline pressure that necessitated overlooking misspellings?

Monday, April 27, 2009

perfectly-toned legs; How to get the perfectly toned legs; Excercises that will get your calves

-- Sympatico / MSN homepage on April 27, 2009

This is horrible. From the erroneously placed hyphen after an -ly adverb to the extra word (the - what, there are only two perfectly toned legs in the entire world? But at least the hyphen isn't present there) to the misspelled exercises, are there no proofreaders whatsoever at Sympatico / MSN?

The top 'women driver' cliches

-- Yahoo! Canada homepage on April 26, 2009

Acceptable: woman driver and women drivers. Unacceptable: woman drivers and women driver. Of course Yahoo! went with one of the unacceptable ones.

Games six airs Monday

-- "Giants on the brink in Game 6" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 27, 2009

One game is not plural, so an S-less Game is needed. Can someone please explain to me why Game is capitalized in the headline.

The 1-1-2 Whitecaps hope to even their record

-- "First win of year" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 27, 2009

One win, one loss, and two ties is pretty much as even as a record can get. The only way to make it more even, I guess, is to have two wins, two losses, and two ties, but that can't happen after just one game.

They duo were originally married

-- "Salma Hayek renews vows" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 27, 2009

Correct to either they were, or the duo were.

win the battle but loose the war

-- "Getting a letter of reference after a layoff" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 27, 2009

You will write a sentence but use the wrong word. You want lose, not loose.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Alberta's admits ad blunder

-- Yahoo! Canada homepage on April 24, 2009

Speaking of blunders, Alberta's is incorrect here. My guess is that the text was originally Alberta's ad blunder, with admits being inserted afterwards. Necessary alterations after the insertion of admits: omitting 's after Alberta.

How to kid from developing a video game addiction

-- Yahoo! Shine homepage on April 24, 2009

Uhh, what? After clicking the link to find out what the hell the writer was on about, I find an article titled, 5 Ways to Prevent Video Game Addiction in Your Child. Okay, so maybe the teaser should have keep your between to and kid.

an already red-hot goaltentender

-- "Hoist one for Bobby Lu" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 23, 2009

Is this the writer's subtle (or subliminal? or sloppy?) way of telling readers that he would rate goaltender Roberto Luongo's play of late as being ten out of ten?

Premier Gordon Cammpbell

-- "Gov't has no reason to be silent" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 23, 2009

British Columbia's Premier is Gordon Campbell, like the soup.

a follow up to the his 2003 release The Natashas: Inside the Global Sex Trade; Malerak; easier said then done

-- "Seasoned journalist takes johns to task" in The Vancouver Courier on April 22, 2009

Aren't writers encouraged to proofread their own work before publishing? Aren't they (also) encouraged to get someone they trust to proofread their work before publishing? Don't newspapers - all newspapers - have editors? In the first image, there is an extra word; his was probably meant to replace the, but both are present. Amazon.ca tells me that there are two books by Malarek with similar titles: The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade, and The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade. The title of his earlier work that is given in the article is not found on Amazon.

Second image: the first five times Victor's last name is written in the article, it's Malarek. The sixth time, it's Malerak. The seventh and eighth times, it's Malarek. The ninth and tenth times, it's Malerak. The good news is that the writer was correct 70% of the time. The bad news is that the writer was incorrect 30% of the time. Third image: seeing then when it should be than (but never vice versa) is becoming a frequent occurrence. I find it easy to use the correct word, as then and than do not have similar meanings.

Friday, April 24, 2009

former pitcher Jim Bouton says Bouton says

-- "Where have baseball’s characters gone?" on NBC Sports online (nbcsports.msnbc.com) on April 13, 2009

Looks to me like NBC Sports wants Sports wants to be on Detected Errors - mission accomplished! The error is still there today despite the article being updated at least once.

a host of new onese

-- "Extra mystery (television briefs)" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 24, 2009

I've got a question: what does onese mean? Assuming it's a typo, is the correct word ones or obese? Man, sentences would be easier to understand if writers simply wrote what they meant.

The Soloists

-- "Foxx unnerved in preparing for Soloist" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 24, 2009

The movie's title is The Soloist and should be italicized.

There was apparently no signs of forced entry.

-- "Panettiere robbed" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 24, 2009

Write either there were no signs or there was no sign.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Earth Day has become a unofficial holiday

-- "Mother Nature takes a bow on Earth Day" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 22, 2009

I was going to write that Vancouver 24 hours has become an unofficial (note the an) joke, but was it ever not a joke?

The win gives Detroit in a solid 3-0 series lead going into Game 4.

-- "Detroit dominates (need to know)" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 22, 2009

After omitting one-letter word a and making Game a lowercase game, you might have something that won't make you look amateur when published.

a review of police and RCMP reports indicate

-- "Bullets versus ballots" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 22, 2009

Take away of police and RCMP reports and you're left with a review indicate there, which is obviously wrong. The obviousness is obscured by RCMP reports, which indeed would necessitate the S-less indicate. However, the sentence's subject is a review, so the spelling should be indicates.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

police officer's will allow between 9 and 15 km's over; a small number of driver's will flash their headlights

-- "How to Avoid a Speeding Ticket" on Yahoo! Canada Autos on April 21, 2009

When writing a plural word, you do not add an apostrophe before the S, so in the first image police officer's should be police officers. While km's is tricky, because kms just doesn't look right, one could write either kilometres or KMs.

In the second image, the writer correctly wrote the plural drivers, but then for some reason wrote driver's two sentences later. Driver's is only correct when writing about something possessed by the driver, as in driver's seat.

What did you do at 4:20 Monday? Smoked a spliff; Didn't smoke a spliff; Hmmm, working?

-- "Online poll" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 21, 2009

One of these things is not like the others. The last option should be, Hmmm, worked? If the question was changed to What were you doing at 4:20 Monday?, then Hmmm, working? would be a correct option. But in that case, the first two options would have to be changed to Smoking a spliff and Not smoking a spliff.

If the Blues can delay the broom, the series will return to Vancouver for game five on Thursday night.

-- "Vancouver readies the broom" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 21, 2009

Umm, no. When it comes to a playoff sweep (one team winning the first four games of a best-of-seven), it is impossible to delay the broom when down three games to none. If the Blues do win tonight, then they can not be swept. Hence, the Blues can prevent the broom, but not delay the broom

The group is encouraging it's "In the Driver's Seat" workshops

-- "Teach thyself (local news briefs)" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 21, 2009

Take the apostrophe out of it's. Then it'll be correct.

(Fans even conducted an online petition begging Marvel to give Howard his role back).

-- "Toe to toe with Terrence Howard" in Famous, April 2009

The sentence is contained entirely within parentheses, so the period should be immediately after back.

Monday, April 20, 2009

COREY MILLER, right, of the A&E Channel TV show L.A. Ink meet fans

-- Photo caption on page 3 of Vancouver 24 hours on April 20, 2009

I wrote too soon in the last post; I found more errors on page 3 of today's Vancouver 24 hours. First there's the disagreement of Corey Miller meet fans, even though he correctly signs autographs immediately after. Meet needs an S. Also, some quick online research tells me that the show Miller is in is LA Ink - no periods.

the 10K marathon

-- "Kenyan comes in first at Sun Run" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 20, 2009

Ridiculous. The word marathon is not a synonym for race or run. A marathon is a foot race that covers 26.2 miles (42.1 kilometres), and therefore a 10K marathon is an impossibility wrapped in nonsense inside an oxymoron.

This is the third of three errors I detected in today's Vancouver 24 hours. All three errors are on page 3 and two of them are misspelled names of murdered women.

Reena Kirk

-- "Upcoming (Upfront)" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 20, 2009

So a Reena Virk and a Reena Kirk were both killed by Kelly Ellard? Quite the coincidence.

Wendy Lander-Beaudry

-- "Local joggers reclaim park" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 20, 2009

So a Wendy Ladner-Beaudry and a Wendy Lander-Beaudry were both recently killed in Vancouver? Quite the coincidence.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Cdns harrassed

-- Yahoo! Canada homepage on April 19, 2009

Canadians are harassed far too often by careless misspellings on Yahoo!'s web pages.

SORRY FOR ANY INCONVIENCE

-- Sign at Silvercity Riverport on April 17, 2009

Their computers were down and there were about thirty of these signs posted on the front doors and around the entrance/lobby area.

I know Canadians knows; bare a grudge

-- "Poundstone goes interactive" in The Vancouver Courier on April 15, 2009

The text above is part of a Paula Poundstone quote. I doubt she said Canadians knows instead of the correct-in-agreement Canadians know. The words bear and bare bear a sonic resemblance, but the writer should know that the phrase is bear a grudge, not bare a grudge.

Friday, April 17, 2009

More than 40 former New York Yankees, ringed the infield

-- "Party pooper (sports briefs)" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 17, 2009

That comma does not belong. Be gone!

Heidi Klum her husband Seal are expecting

-- "Klum expecting" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 17, 2009

I'm expecting there to be an and after Heidi Klum.

But an an independent study

-- "need to know" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 17, 2009

Should the first an be in?

There are must-haves; however, and that's only

-- "Ensuites more than just a place to wash up" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 17, 2009

That semicolon should be a comma.

GAY MARRAIGE

-- "need to know" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 17, 2009

Great idea! If some U.S. states won't allow gay marriage, maybe gay marraige can be snuck by them.

they had no seen the lawsuit

-- "Fan sues NYPD; kicked out of Yankee Stadium for using restroom during 'God Bless America' - suit" on NYDailyNews.com on April 17, 2009

I'm amused by online article's that indicate the article has been updated, yet errors are present. Were the errors there all along and looked over, or did they pop up after the updating? In this case, no should be not.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Tyson Sexmith; defensemen Nick Ross

-- "Giants win Game 7 showdown" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 15, 2009

The Vancouver goaltender who shut out Spokane in a game seven to help get the Giants into the third round is Tyson Sexsmith. The writers and editors at 24 hours continue to show their ignorance regarding the difference between defensemen and defenseman.

20 Games of More

-- ESPN's Streak for the Cash on April 15, 2009

It's simple: of should be or.