Friday's & Saturday's

Take a look at this selected image from the S Restaurant advertisement in The Now on January 27, 2010. You saw the two apostrophes, right? Do you think they should be there? Do you think just one of them should be there? Do you think the selected image should be apostrophe-free? Speak and let me know what you think.

more than 30,000 people have visited their website since their launched their "Project Scourge" campaign

One their should be they. Can you do what the writer - of "Public interest" in 24H Vancouver on January 27, 2010 - could not: figure out which their should be changed?

I think its part of our duty

Yes. Of course it is. Just like it's part of the duty of the writer - of "'Inappropriate' free Olympic tickets turned down" on CBC News online on January 26, 2010 - to not include an apostrophe in its when it's clearly a contraction of it is.

Lindsay Houghton

Congratulations, The Vancouver Courier! After publishing "Quote of the week" on January 20, 2010, you've now been added to the unwritten list of media outlets that have misspelled Constable Lindsey Houghton's name in the exact same way. The list includes CBC News (twice), 24H Vancouver, and MSN News. Well done! One time 24H Vancouver got the first name right but got tripped up on the last name. I wonder what it is about his name that causes the media such problems. He is a VPD media spokesperson, so you'd think the media could - or should - spell his name correctly. I'd think so anyway. Click the image to enlarge it.

my six year old daughter

The writer of this article - "So you think you can't dance" in Tri-City News on January 20, 2010 - needs a lesson to show her that six-year-old daughter requires hyphens.

with metals for their efforts

Good use of mettle in the article's headline, but poor use of metals in the photo caption for "Girls display mettle in key mat tests" in The Now on January 22, 2010. Metals should be medals.

(Note to Brooks: these are blue-skinned computer animations, not real people).

Note to writers: when the entire sentence is contained within the parentheses - as it is in "Critics throw stones at allegorical Avatar" in The Vancouver Courier on January 22, 2010 - the period should be contained within as well.

February 1,2009

2009, eh? So then the tickets are already available, will be should be were, and starting should be jettisoned. Either that, or 2009 should be 2010. Yeah, I'm thinking it's the date they screwed up in the City of Coquitlam Olympic Flame advertisement in Tri-City News on January 22, 2010. Also, there should be a space after the comma in the date.

a painting that's over 100-years-old

The 100-year-old painting is 100 years old. Note my hyphen use pre-painting, and the absence of hyphens post-painting. The homepage of Yahoo! Canada got it wrong yesterday. I wonder if the Yahoo! writer was intentionally going for humor with the headline Woman rips a hole in Picasso. It's awfully similar to the threat, I'm going to rip you a new hole. I think if the a got moved to between in and Picasso, it'd be less tasteless. It wasn't Picasso who suffered the ripped hole, after all, it was a Picasso painting.

Time is estimated at subject to change.

The earlier tennis match listed on ESPN Streak for the Cash yesterday has a Status Update of Time is estimated and subject to change. The update for the late match, however, suffers from a misspelling. Is at instead of and a misspelling? Anyway, damn you Roddick - you had a set point in the first set. Grrrr.

Tiger Wood's wife, Elin

This is from "Elin texted as Tiger, learned of affair, say sources" in today's 24H Vancouver. Once again, 24H Vancouver, his name is Tiger Woods, not Tiger Wood.

HIP: 6%

D'oh! The poll section of 24H Vancouver, which has been the site of numerous errors in the past, was on a very long error-free run. The run ended today - in "Yesterday's poll" - with another case of mismatched colors. What a stupid poll. Gee, I wonder if the results would have been different if they polled only people who needed a hip replacement.

ACADEMY OF INTERNAITONAL DANCE ARTS

In the same section of The Vancouver Courier's January 15 edition in which a similar error was found, it's another case of transposed letters (this time in a Vancouver Academy of International Dance Arts advertisement). Even when there's no time to proofread, quick use of a computer's spell check can be very useful. It won't catch all errors, but some, like this one, will be flagged. International.

This is probably the one of the most difficult questions

This writer - of "Part 1: Answering interview questions the right way" in today's 24H Vancouver - makes a simple sentence seem incredibly difficult.

Susie's older sister (Rose McIvor)

The error in "Jackson's Bones lovely but soft" in The Vancouver Courier on January 15, 2010, won't be obvious to many, but I've read the book and seen the movie and spotted the error immediately. Susie does not have an older sister; Rose McIvor plays Susie's younger sister.
SPOILER ALERT
As Susie watches her family from afar, she witnesses her younger sister pass the age that Susie was when she was murdered. Susie watches her sister experiencing firsts that Susie never experienced, including the poignant first-kiss moment that Susie was so looking forward to. I guess the movie reviewer missed that important plotline.

FALSE CREEK COMMUNTIY CENTRE

Can you spot the error in the heading of the False Creek Community Centre advertisement in The Vancouver Courier on January 15, 2010?

chosen next weeks theme

Another Newsly Weekletter from 365 Project, another absent apostrophe. I wonder if next week's Newsly Weekletter will be error-free.

recorded noise levels of 30-40 decibels, peaking at 47

Maybe I'm missing something, but shouldn't the recorded noise levels - shared in "Briton faces jail for noisy sex" on Yahoo! Canada News on January 22, 2010 - be 30-47 decibels?

believes Burrows story; puts words in Burrows mouth

The story belongs to Burrows, so it's Burrows's story. The writer of this article - "Alain Vigneault slams Ron MacLean in a rare challenge of a specific media member" on The Province online on January 17, 2010 - forgot possession.

The mouth belongs to Burrows. The writer forgot possession again.

Edgar Allen Poe

It may surprise The Vancouver Courier - or at least the writer of "PuSh it real good (Performing arts fest PuShes the envelope)" from January 20, 2010 - that the writer's name is actually Edgar Allan Poe. If it's any consolation, a writer at 24H Vancouver also got it wrong, and in exactly the same way.

Edgar Allen Poe

While I might be interested in a musical about Edgar Allan Poe, "Push onward" in today's 24H Vancouver tells me that I can see a musical about Edgar Allen Poe. Next best thing, I guess.

ressurrect our playoff prediction panel

The obvious problem is the misspelled resurrect - in "NFL" in today's 24H Vancouver - but that whole sentence seems poorly structured.

Clarke Avenue; Clarke Drive

The fourth and final post featuring errors from the New Year's Eve edition of Tri-City News. This article - "Bus driver assaulted on Clarke Avenue" - starts with a double-error headline. The street is actually Clark Drive. While it's an improvement that the article's second paragraph features Drive and not Avenue,

the unwelcome E is still haunting the end of Clark. Also, inconsistency between the headline and the article is never good.

(Later it became the butt of jokes. Neverbuilt Line anyone?) because of the way it sputtered and stalled like a tired, old jitney.

The New Year's Eve errors in Tri-City News continue with the jumbled mess above. How does that paragraph - in "2004: Evergreen eyed" - get approved for publication? No editors? No proofreading? No writer pride?

this Chritmas!

The next error found in the New Year's Eve edition of Tri-City News is in "Port Moody's snowfall waste collection plan (City of Port Moody announcement)". Let's make a deal: I won't buy garbage if you don't print garbage. Stick another S in (what's supposed to be) Christmas. As I already mentioned, this was in the New Year's Eve edition. A tad late to be trying to influence shoppers' buying habits, don't you think?

northeast official community plan official community plan (NE OCP); In an effort raise awareness

The New Year's Eve edition of Tri-City News contained an alarming number of errors. First up, in "2000: NE OCP changes face of Coquitlam" we see opposite errors. Above there are extra/repeated words (or else the acronym should be NE OCP OCP), and then

there is a missing word. Specifically, to should go between effort and raise.

the Malcic's

Lisa and her husband have the same last name: Malcic. It may be news to the writer - of "Changing baby leads to inspiration" in Tri-City News on January 15, 2010 - that no apostrophe is necessary to write about the Malcics. In fact, that apostrophe isn't just unnecessary, it's plain wrong.

the mattress their holding

Seriously? This writer, this "professional" writer, seriously thinks that it should be the mattress their holding? I think this writer - of "One nasty habit that needs to be put to bed" in today's 24H Vancouver - is in serious need of a tutorial on the very different meanings of there and their and they're.

She's brining the matter up at tonight's park board meeting.

Really? She's going to brine the matter up tonight? Why? I hope the writer of this article - "Empire rumble" in 24H Vancouver on January 19, 2010 - gives readers a follow-up article to reveal how this act was received by fellow meeting attendees.

proliferation of adversitising by Olympic sponsors

Can you spot the error that is featured on the front page of today's 24H Vancouver?

handed out it's Golden Globes; in a based-on-true events film; You can't classier than The Dude.

This article - "Golden Globes 2010: The Best & Worst Moments" on Yahoo! Canada TV on January 18, 2010 - begins with an error in its opening sentence. Next,

one more hyphen, linking true and events, is necessary. Finally,

what does You can't classier than The Dude mean? I suspect there is a missing word there. Click an image to enlarge it.

down to 1,318 incidents in from 1,515 and asaults down 10 per cent from 1,557; SPikes were seen in the number sexual assaults

Problems exist in 24H Vancouver's "2009 a safe year, stats say" on January 18, 2010. Above, in doesn't seem to belong, and a rewrite of that entire sentence seems necessary. That's followed up with

a missing word: of between number and sexual.

issues that effect everyone; Interest seemed to peek on the rare occasion; The Jay Leno Show has pulled in 5.34 viewers

The NBC folks have made some errors in the past year, and maybe the writer of this article - "Leno avoids late-night snafu in act" in The Province on January 10, 2010 - is just trying to match them error for error. First is the word effect instead of affect. Then,

it's another homophonic error, featuring peek instead of peak.

Last but not least, no wonder The Jay Leno Show got pulled - the show has not only pulled in under six viewers a night (I had no idea I was in such select company), it's also been hacking up at least one viewer to create fractions.

Roxxxy the sex robot made here debut; comes complete with complete with artificial intelligence; the anatomically-correct robot

Wow. The writer of this article - "Roxxxy the sex robot makes her world debut" on Yahoo! Canada News on January 9, 2010 - must have been distracted while writing this article. Based on the content, I can hardly place blame, though some proofreading could have done some good. The problem starts in the very first sentence; Roxxxy made her debut. Then, in the very next sentence,

there are two repeated two repeated words,

followed up by an incorrect hyphen later in the article. It's been nine days since the article was posted, and the errors remain.

Winter conditions often foil you're plans to attend the gym.

I would like the writer of this article - "Move it!" in 24H Vancouver on January 18, 2010 - to explain why it's you're plans, but then your immunity and vitality. What was the thinking behind that difference? It should be your plans.

two huskie dogs

The writer of this article/news blurb - "Huskies loose" in 24H Vancouver on January 18, 2010 - should have written either two huskies or two husky dogs.

past it's best-before date; How about Orwell "exhibiting postmortem turbine energy?"

An article published on the first day of 2010 - "'Buzzwords' deserve cultural banishment" in The Vancouver Courier on January 1, 2010 - contains two errors. All was good until the final paragraph. It's best-before date should be its best-before date (no apostrophe in its), and how about putting that question mark after the closing quotation mark?

winning this weeks theme

I joined the 365 Project a few days ago, but I don't think I'll keep it up much longer. In fact, I may have already stopped. On January 16 I received a Newsly Weekletter (clever!) email from 365 Project. That's noteworthy because the weekletter included the above error; weeks needs an apostrophe before the S.

Susan Heyes was award $600,000

In "Suit on track" in 24H Vancouver on January 18, 2010, a writer didn't put award in the past tense. Susan Heyes was awarded $600,000.

Should full body scanners should be installed at Vancouver International Airport?

It was "This week's question" in Tri-City News on January 8, 2010. Then it was "Last week's question" on January 15 and the wording was exactly the same. Shouldn't someone have noticed the extra should?