Wednesday, June 30, 2010

but was is in good condition

The writer (of "Tombstone found" in today's 24H Vancouver) had limited space but wanted to make clear that the tombstone was in good condition and still is in good condition.

Classifiedsextra.ca

It's another sex-infused misspelling of their own classifieds website by 24H Vancouver. Seen in today's edition.

Former NHL great

After seeing the above teaser on the Yahoo! Canada homepage today, I was keen to find out how the accident happened and who the former NHL player was. So I clicked to the article, whereupon I found out in the very first sentence that it was actually a former NFL player.

Abbottsford girl

Someone misspelled Abbotsford on the 24H Vancouver homepage today.

stolen from her parents' Courtney home

The city is actually Courtenay, which is very different from Courtney. From "News in pictures" in Metronews Vancouver on June 29, 2010.

Long distance ruing

The writer of "Sports to enhance your on-court performance" in yesterday's Metronews Vancouver should probably focus more on enhancing their writing than on sports. Long-distance needs a hyphen and running requires three Ns.

Vancouver Secondary School

There are a lot of secondary schools in Vancouver, but there is no such thing as Vancouver Secondary School. From "Anti-HST petition in early" in Metronews Vancouver on June 29, 2010.

Classifiedsextra.ca

Misspelling the web address to their own classifieds site is commonplace for 24H Vancouver. This time it's on June 29, 2010.

grew by 0.37 per cent (just over 4,510,000 people)

This sentence tells the readers that B.C.'s population grew by just over 4,510,000 people. That is wrong - the word to should be put before just. From "We are growing" in 24H Vancouver on June 29, 2010.

Twi-hard fans

The plural fans should be the singular fan in the photo caption for "The young man behind the fangs" in The Province on June 28, 2010.

demonstrating how the choices we make effect the world around us

Effect should be affect in this Science World advertisement in The Vancouver Courier on June 25, 2010.

recieve

I before E except after C. What discount will I receive for pointing out this error? From a Knights Insulation advertisement in The Vancouver Courier on June 25, 2010.

another young women

It should be another young woman in "Toy saviour (Central Park)" in The Vancouver Courier on June 23, 2010.

Kristin Stewart

The Yahoo! Canada homepage got Kristen Stewart's first name right two out of three times yesterday. We all know that ain't bad, but it ain't good either.

18 career tips the you might just want to put on your fridge; to keep you network alive

I don't think the parents of this writer (of "18 tips for the fridge" in 24H Vancouver on June 28, 2010) would want to put this on the fridge to show off their son's work. First the should be that. Then,

you do not have to do a lot to keep your writing free of errors - just simple proofreading.

there is no one who embodies the essence of big skies and the way your boots sound walking over fresh snow.

Consider the following line, from "Light and heavy in 'Canadianess'" in 24H Vancouver on June 28, 2010: "there is no one who embodies the essence of big skies and the way your boots sound walking over fresh snow." Whether true or not, does it really belong in a blurb that is supposed to be about Neil Young? If the writer is trying to say that Neil Young is the embodiment, then perhaps the word better could be put in front of embodies.

Classifiedsextra.ca

Breaking News: 24H Vancouver has once again misspelled its own classifieds web address. This time it's on June 28, 2010. There shouldn't be any sex.

Monction Wildcats

Monction should be Moncton in "Winners and losers of this year's draft" in 24H Vancouver on June 28, 2010.

Show off you skills

Unless your skill is writing and you make mistakes without proofreading before publishing. From "Share experiences" in 24H Vancouver on June 28, 2010.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Thurday; We are please to announce our evenings guest speakers; Rebecca Bowlitt

There's a lot wrong with this Kitsilano Chamber of Commerce advertisement that I saw in The Vancouver Courier on June 18, 2010. First, the only days of the week that do not contain an S are Monday and Friday; the other five - including Thursday - each contain an S. Next, there are two errors in the italicized portion: please needs a D added to the end, and evenings needs an apostrophe added between the G and the S. Finally, Rebecca's last name is first written as Bollwitt, which then becomes Bowlitt, which then reverts back to Bollwitt. Two out of three ain't bad - it's Bollwitt. Click the image to enlarge it.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

There are two winning tickets were sold for Friday's $50 million Lotto Max jackpot.

This article ("Two winning tickets for $50 million jackpot." on Yahoo! Canada News on June 26, 2010) is a good example of how not to write an opening sentence. There are two possible fixes and they both involve the removal of two consecutive words. Jettison either there are or were sold. The headline of this article is the only one I've ever seen on Yahoo! Canada News that ends with a period.

dody found in B.C. grow-op grave

Oh, Yahoo! Canada homepage, how you amuse me so. Featuring dody instead of body, as you did today, is just so you.

Summer Saftey Tips

Once upon a time (in March I think) I was at Bellis Fair in Bellingham, WA, and saw a display for a summer camp. A large poster featured a misspelling of safety, and there were several piles of handouts on the kiosk below the poster. I took a look at the handouts, confirmed that the top of each of them had the same misspelling, and brought one home with me. Months later the error was featured in this post. The end.

when her heard the shots

He becomes her in "B.C. bear shooting 'traumatized' boy" on CBC News online on June 25, 2010, making for an amusing her heard.

$65,0000

The writer of this article ("E. Hastings jaywalkers get $65K study" in The Vancouver Courier on June 16, 2010) is critical of the amount of money spent on a pedestrian safety report. I had thought that her view was that $65,000 was far too much to spend, but - overlooking the comma placement - it looks like she believes it should have been ten times that amount.

THE INNOVATATORS OF COMFORT

It's a good thing that phrase is trademarked, lest someone else want to misspell innovators with an exra syllable. From an INspiration Interiors advertisement in The Georgia Straight on June 10, 2010.

it's high quality dating at it's finest

For high-quality writing at its finest, you'll have to look somewhere other than this It's Just Lunch advertisement (from The Georgia Straight on June 10, 2010).

Friday, June 25, 2010

if you're 50-years-old and broke

What to do if you're 50 years old (or any age) and don't know when to use hyphens: become a writer for the Yahoo! Canada homepage. The screen capture above is from this afternoon, while the article's headline is correctly absent of hyphens: "50 years old and broke: Now what?"

P attinson; in the popular vam-

The writer of "Twilight's Pattinson kin to Vlad the Impaler" in 24H Vancouver on June 25, 2010, appears to have had great problems with text alignment. I don't know why main got its very own line with a lot of space after it, but I do know that Pattinson should have been kept together, or at least continued with a hyphen. Further on,


spacing is still an issue, with plenty of room for text after just as. Plus, the end of the screen capture above is actually the end of the article. Seriously. 24H Vancouver has outdone itself here by stopping halfway through a word and leav-

Classifiedsextra.ca

Sextra! Sextra! Read all about it! Seen above is the web address given in the classifieds section of today's 24H Vancouver. For those just tuning in, there is no sex in the actual web address. It's their own web address to their own online classifieds and they've misspelled it numerous times.

having someone so referred visit a place

The writer of "The Queen visits Wimbledon for the first time in 33 years" on Yahoo! Canada Sports on June 24, 2010, should be referred to a dictionary and asked to compare the meanings of referred and revered. Click the image to enlarge it.

with the perfectly-delivered line "I can't belive you played tennis

A short excerpt from "Video: James Blake yells at ESPN commentator during match" on Yahoo! Canada Sports on June 22, 2010, features multiple errors. First, the hyphen seen after the -LY adverb shouldn't be there. Second, there should be a comma after line; perhaps use the one mid-quote where there should be a period instead. Third, I can't believe the misspelling of believe wasn't spotted (and still hasn't been corrected). Click the image to enlarge it.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

bests record by more than six hours; Wimbleon; The fifth set set

The screen capture seen above is from the Yahoo! Canada homepage on June 23, 2010. A tennis match that is "more than six hours" longer than the previous longest match? Even if I wasn't a tennis fan, I would've clicked to the article ("Isner and Mahut deadlocked at 59-59 in historic Wimbledon tilt" on Yahoo! Canada Sports on June 23, 2010) to read more. But, after I did,

I learned that at the time of the article's writing the current match was actually three hours and 25 minutes longer than the previous record. Still impressive, just very different from what Yahoo!'s homepage declared. (The match ended today after a total of 11 hours and five minutes of actual playing time, spanning three days.)

Elsewhere in the article, Wimbledon looks silly without its D,

and the writer suggests that the fifth set should be repeated. Or he just didn't proofread. Click an image to enlarge it.

want whats best

The writer of this article ("'He needs help' in today's 24H Vancouver) needs help with punctuation. Apostrophe-less whats is not a word. 24H Vancouver clearly doesn't want what's best for its readers.

if the Azzurri bets Slovakia; out of the Group; Thursday at 5 a.m.

There are three errors in this brief blurb. First, bets should be beats. Second, group should not be capitalized. Third, 5 a.m. should be 7 a.m. From "Group F (World Cup)" in today's 24H Vancouver.

an zapplication; Middelear

Really? Do you really not use spell check at all, 24H Vancouver? Does any proofreading happen? How does zapplication - in the article's opening sentence - see the light of day? Plus, the article ("Court tosses defence application to end trial" on June 24, 2010) is the second main story on the first page of actual news. That's not all:

The photo caption features a misspelling of Middelaer.

he told ESPN said after the match. 'We're alive, baby!"

It's either he told ESPN after the match or he said after the match. What's there is a shoddy mix of the two. Also, three double quotation marks and one single quotation mark is just wrong. From "'Benefits' of celebrity rolling in for soccer stud" in today's 24H Vancouver.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Odd conditon

There is an odd spelling of condition on the Yahoo! Canada homepage today.

the Twisted Panties Test-drive team prove

The subject, team, doesn't agree with the verb, prove. The writer (of "Twisted Panties Test Drive" in today's 24H Vancouver) needs to add an S to the end of prove to prove to the readers that they can actually write. Also, is it Twisted Panties Test Drive or Twisted Panties Test-drive? Some consistency there would be a good thing.

The following 22 cities earned spots on the Monopoly board, listed with the highest rent properties first:

The writer of this article ("New Monopoly board features Canadian cities" on Yahoo! Canada News on June 22, 2010) appears to have forgotten to include some information: a list of the 22 cities that earned spots on the Monopoly board.

Classifiedsextra.ca

Sex. That's what should not be in the web address above, seen in 24H Vancouver on June 23, 2010. It's definitely not the first time 24H Vancouver has made this error.

the 6 year-old-boy; where it a woman

The writer of "Woman, grandson hit by truck in Burnaby" on CBC News online on June 22, 2010, knew that there should be two hyphens in 6-year-old boy, but misplaced them. Then, in the photo caption,

there is a missing word; hit ought to be between it and a. The article has been updated at least once and the errors remain.

Workers drives into crowd at Mazda plant

Workers drive and worker drives, but never workers drives. This article ("Workers drives into crowd at Mazda plant" on MSN Canada Autos on June 22, 2010) is about one worker who drove into a crowd, so the headline - yes, the headline! - should be worker drives.