Krisitin Chenoweth

-- "Glee (Our pick)" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 30, 2009

I spy with my little eye, a name with one too many Is.

(If this actually is an approximation of your life, I apologize for making it sound boring).; it could take a more than an initial three-hour meet

The error above (placing the period outside the closing parenthesis when the entire sentence is within the parentheses) is from "A fresh perspective equals better dates" - an article in today's Vancouver 24 hours.

Later in the same article, the single-letter word a should be jettisoned.

subject headling

-- "Commute horror" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 29, 2009

Forget commute horror - how 'bout journalist horror? What exactly is a subject headling? A newfangled headline/heading hybrid? I'm not buying it.

Phillippine floodwaters

-- Yahoo! Canada homepage on September 27, 2009

Another media outlet has jumped aboard the two-Ls-in-Philippine bandwagon

absolutely phenominal

-- Yahoo! Canada homepage on September 24, 2009

Not so great? The misspelling of phenomenal.

in Tiger Wood's video game.

-- "Vancouver gamer wins $50k with viral video" on Canoe Technology on September 24, 2009

Take a cue from where the apostrophe is in EA Sports' slogan, and realize that the famous golfer's name is Tiger Woods.

we're all looking at you Tom Delay; Kelly Osborne

In today's Vancouver 24 hours, the start of the entertainment section has this teaser for a Reality TV column, but there's a typo as Tom's last name is actually DeLay with a capital L.

Uh oh, the column - which is titled "Chuck Liddell is a fighter, not a dancer" and is found on page 23, not 24 - has the same typo in its intro.

Yeeaaaahhhh, it's not a typo, is it? Three times Delay and never DeLay. Also, Kelly's last name is Osbourne.

crucial ligament tear

Another submission from Laura. She spotted these articles in the Yahoo! Shine article, "Why is my dog limping?" and writes that these errors...

appeared in an article on Yahoo! Shine, but it was written by someone from Purina (a "Purina blogger"). Since the article wasn't by a yahoo, I won't be including it in Terribly Write.

I'm no expert in medicine (veterinary or human), but I did recognize that there may be a "crucial ligament" in dogs and people, but the writer meant "cruciate ligament." Making a mistake like that might be considered a careless typo. But twice? I think that borders on idiocy.

Be sure to visit Laura's blog, Terribly Write. Thanks, Laura! Click the images to enlarge them.

the The Sydney Harbor Bridge as it is cloaked in dust as as dust clouds blanket

-- "Red dust storm in Australia (photo gallery)" on Vancouver 24 hours online on September 23, 2009

Errors galore! Three of 'em in one single-sentence photo caption. First, jettison the capitalized The. Then, add a U after the O in Harbor. Finally, jettison one of the two ases. Click the image to enlarge it.

To which I answered "Not neccessary

-- "For sale: 4X4 dumpster - low expectations!" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 24, 2009

It must not be necessary to be familiar with the rules of writing when writing for Vancouver 24 hours (simply click the Vancouver 24 hours label at the bottom of this post to see over 600 detected errors made by said newspaper). While spell check can't help in all cases, it would've helped the writer recognize that presence of nonword neccessary. Also, a comma should be placed after answered.

TESTING OK FOR SPELLING spelling

-- "Testing OK for spelling (Weird New Good News)" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 24, 2009

I'd like to see a study on the spelling abilities of journalists, with a focus on 24 hours. The testing in the headline is no doubt meant to be texting. The writer must be proud they were able to spell spelling correctly - why else would it be there twice?

Susan Hayes

-- "Talking Tasers, HST and one hapless Mayor" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 24, 2009

Her name is Susan Heyes.

Hank Sedni; Kesler is the second coming of Rod Brind'amour with a potenially bigger offensive upside.

-- "Spill your guts" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 23, 2009

When you're spilling your guts, it's bound to be messy. But the least you can do is attempt to minimize the mess. Here we have Hank's last name being mangled from Sedin to Sedni. Then, in just one sentence of average length, we have Kesler missing his first name (this is his first mention in the article), Brind'Amour's last name missing a capitalization, and a T missing in what's supposed to be potentially. Yuck, there was obviously no attempt at all to minimize the mess here, and that's offensive to readers.

web-saavy; the web aides learning

-- "Children are web-saavy by 7" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 23, 2009

I'm a parent of a future teen and I believe that the web aids learning. For example, I used the web (specifically, Dictionary.com) to find the following pertinent information:

Savvy
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

1.	to know; understand.

Saavy

No results found for saavy:

Dictionary suggestions:

Sava

savoy

SAV

save

savvy

A spot where its -238 Celsius

-- Yahoo! Canada homepage on September 21, 2009

A spot where the apostrophe belongs: between the T and the S in its.

two children and a baby

"She leaves behind a husband, two children and a baby."
-- Reporter on KIRO 7 Eyewitness News at Noon on September 23, 2009

I don't get it. Either there are three children left behind, including a baby, or there are two children left behind, including a baby. Which is it?

John Hodgeman; lightening fast

The article (er, photo gallery with captions), "The best and worst of the 2009 Emmy Awards" on MSN Canada Entertainment on September 20, 2009 was an entertaining read for the most part. However, two errors detracted from my pleasure. The first one, a misspelling of John Hodgman's last name, came in the gallery's introduction.

The second error is one we've been seeing more often lately. Lightning and lightening have different meanings, yet the latter is sometimes written when the former is called for. Once the E has been removed, add a hyphen between lightning and fast and then you're set to publish. Click the images to enlarge them.

immidiately; Should local road and bridges be tagged with a toll for drivers?

-- "Polls" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 21, 2009

Regardless of the results of the top poll, there is one writer who should be given his/her walking papers immediately. Looking to fill that staff vacancy? Pick me! Pick me! As for "Yesterday's poll," I know that Vancouver is often referred to as a small fishing village (usually in response to a local trying to compare the city to New York), but Vancouver does have more than one road.

TONIGHT Jerry Seinfeld l Jay-Z l Kayne West l Rihanna

-- The Jay Leno Show advertisement in Vancouver 24 hours on September 21, 2009

I first noticed the misspelling of Kanye West's first name. Then I noticed that all the guests for the show bear a striking similarity to all the guests on the show's premiere night exactly one week earlier.

repel from a helicopter; ski patrol on Cyprus

From a September 21 article - "Missing hiker found dead" - on Vancouver 24 hours online, we learn that someone had to repel, and not rappel, from a helicopter. I would've liked to have been there to see what repelling from a helicopter looks like.

The 70-year-old man must've been a very fast hiker if he was seen on Cyprus last Monday. The Mediterranean island is thousands of kilometres from the Lions Bay area where he was found. Interestingly, Cypress is pretty close to Lions Bay.

peaking through windows

-- "Read them or weep" on Vancouver 24 hours online on September 21, 2009

Peak through the windows as much as you'd like, but please don't brake the glass. When your done peaking, please fined a dictionary and brush up on you're homophones.

formery of Montreal; befriending a yong man

-- "Canadian woman killed in Mexico" on MSN Canada News on September 18, 2009

To the article's writer: What the L? This paragraph has two sentences and U manage to insert a nonword into each one. Please find and read the definition for the non-nonword, proofreading.

Jenniffer's Body

-- "Movie listings" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 18, 2009

For the longest time I couldn't see the sexual appeal of Megan Fox. The few pictures of her I'd seen had had her looking stiff and cold with her hair pulled tight and it just didn't do it for me. Then came her appearance on last night's Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and all of a sudden I saw the light. She was gorgeous. She is gorgeous. The photo caption above is wrong - the movie she's starring in is Jennifer's Body - but now I can't blame the writer for being distracted. Today is Friday, so is the movie out today or is it out next Friday?

Watch who's turf your marking

-- Page 115 of Lucky Dog by Mark Barrowcliffe

I realize this is being spoken by a dog, but both errors in this sentence (who's for whose and your for you're) are homophone errors that no speaker can make. Only in written form can the errors be made, and therefore it's the author - not the dog - that made these errors.

Stephanie Meyer

-- "Twilight Time" in Westender on September 17, 2009

The writer chose to ignore those bestseller lists and decided to hazard a guess in the spelling of the Twilight author's name. With 5 Es and zero As, it's Stephenie Meyer.

B.C. survivor recalls Phillippine ferry sinking

Here we see a problem with news outlets borrowing from other news outlets. MSN Canada regularly displays content from CBC News, as above, apparently without even doing one read-over. The headline for the CBC News article has since been corrected to Philippine, while the MSN Canada headline remains incorrect

a new 12-year extention

-- "Gut Shot" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 18, 2009

Now, now, don't get excited - this is from a list of "statements no Canuck fan
wants to hear this season". Even if it were true, though, I'd be more excited about the new word, extention. However, I'd wonder why it's needed as it seems to have a meaning that is identical to extension.

Raymond Clark, 24, pictured,

-- "Lab tech suspect in murder" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 18, 2009

Picture! I like pictures! Unfortunately, the writer of this article is lying, because there is no picture. It's likely a case of borrowing a story from another news outlet and choosing to not run their picture, but not removing the associated text and looking foolish.

Suggit

-- "Rollergirls ready to rumble" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 18, 2009

The Terminal City Rollergirls team captain is introduced in the article as Lisa Suggitt. Her next mention she is still Suggitt. Her third mention she is now Suggit. Her fourth mention she remains Suggit. Her fifth mention she reverts back to Suggitt. Her sixth mention she switches again to Suggit.

lightening fires

The image above was sent to me by Laura, who spotted the errors on the San Jose Mercury News website. Inserting an E into the middle of lightning once could be mistaken for a careless typo. Doing it twice is stretching the carelessness boundaries. Doing it three times in short succession is clearly intentional.

Laura's Yahoo!-focused blog, Terribly Write, is very entertaining and you should definitely check it out. Thanks for the submission, Laura!

his two of his most famous; probably help build; Alomor; that knocked out tooth; to throw water bottle; Dallas Cowboys loss; Zinadine Zidane; Zindane

I started looking through the collection of "Top 10 most memorable meltdowns in sports" on MSN Canada Sports yesterday for its entertainment value, but quickly realized it was a goldmine for errors. The first page on show features John McEnroe. The writer was going for either but his two most famous lines or but two of his most famous lines, but he ended up with a mix of both. The or between the two quotes should be and, and if he influenced, then he helped build. Is John McEnroe really known as King? I can't find anything online about that. Click the images to enlarge them.

The name is correct as Roberto Alomar, but then becomes Alomor. The reference is to Watergate, so shouldn't it then be Spitgate?

The high stick knocked out a tooth and Roenick threw a water bottle. Did the ice hit the ref? There is a lack of punctuation after horror flick.

The loss belongs to the Dallas Cowboys, so it's the Dallas Cowboys' loss.

Zinedine Zidane's name is correct in the photo caption, but in the blurb his first name gets changed to Zinadine and a sentence later his last name becomes Zindane.

They certainly don't improve safety for people worried about jail," he said. "So, the police needs to themselves from that kind organized campaigns."

-- "Police tickets anger DTES residents" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 17, 2009

The first part of the quote is missing its opening quotation mark. The second part of the quote is missing coherency.

I understand the challenges better then anyone

-- "Body bag shipments unfortunate, Butler-Jones says" on MSN Canada News on September 17, 2009

It is my understanding that Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq spoke those words, so the then for than error was made by the article's writer. It is interesting to note that many online articles from major news outlets, including MSN, CBC News, and Yahoo!, don't have the names of writers attached to the articles. For example, this article from MSN News (which you can see by clicking the green title), simply has "By CBC News, cbc.ca" at the top.

Stephanie

No, MSN Canada, the mother asked if Stefanie Rengel begged to live. It's another misspelled name to add to the list.

Facebook too hot for former Sunshine Girl; sexually expicity content

This is from the Vancouver 24 hours homepage about ten minutes ago. If she did indeed have sexually explicit content on her page, then maybe she was too hot for Facebook and not vice versa (which the headline declares).

Obama, Harper's lightening quick visit

This headline appeared on the MSN Canada homepage yesterday. Someone dropped E in lightning and was then too busy dancing to insert a hyphen in light(e)ning-quick.

Does Kanye West deserve the public bashing his antics at the MTV Video Music Awards?; NO 7%

Today's results from yesterday's Vancouver 24 hours poll question is interesting. First there's the unintelligible question, and then there's the pie chart being almost entirely blue. I have no problem with the color blue in general - in fact it's my favorite color - but blue here appears to represent the "NO" result, which is just 7%.

Del Porto

After Juan Martin del Potro's remarkable victory over Roger Federer in yesterday's U.S. Open men's final, MSN Canada's homepage had a link to their story about it. For the record, del Potro is from Argentina, not Portugal.

HEALTHY VEGETARIAN: Meat Balls, Steamed Pork, Stir-Fry Pork

My friend Jason - while eating out in Vancouver recently - snapped the above photo and sent it to me. In the email, he wrote: "Meat balls, pork, chicken. Not one of the dishes on this page of the BBT Cafe menu are vegetarian." Thanks, Jason!

a targetted attack

-- "Drug trade behind B.C. assaults: police" on CBC News online on September 14, 2009

There are only two Ts in targeted, but maybe the writer can take solace in the fact that writing the nonword targetted is a common error.