Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Galifinakis

From "Galifinakis draws the library crowd" in Metronews Calgary on August 19, 2010. It's a misspelling, eh. A misspelling in a headline, eh. The writer left out an A in Galifianakis, eh.

to peak into the dark recesses of the male mind

If you peek into the dark recesses of the mind of this writer (of "Why it's important to get inside your doctor's head" in The Vancouver Courier on August 27, 2010), you might see an empty pocket where the knowledge of homophones is supposed to be.

Said Dikeakos, who's mom Sophie Dikeakos opened the café

If who's got changed to whose then this sentence (from "Longtime comic shop moving up and away" in The Vancouver Courier on August 25, 2010) would make sense.

The Swtich

It's a switch of letters in The Switch in "In Theatres" in Famous in August 2010. That was a lot of ins.

Bonconnier

The correct Bronconnier later loses an R in "Skipping along the mayor’s long road" in Calgary's Fast Forward Weekly on August 19, 2010.

Wozniaki

The writer of "Clijsters wins" in today's 24H Vancouver got Caroline Wozniacki's last name correct earlier in the article, but was unable to repeat that success.

Take thess breaks; (i.e. very low).

The writer of "Crossing the line part two: How to go about your workplace crush" in today's 24H Vancouver should probably take a break and proofread her work once in a while. Maybe then she'll spot errors like thess when it's meant to be these. While she's at it, she could move that final period to inside the closing parenthesis.

Classifiedsextra.ca

Another extra S in the classifieds section in today's 24H Vancouver.

Langdon Hall near Waterloo, Ontario is one of Canada's top hotel properties and is offering a rates from $195 on Sept. 3 and Sept 6. (regular: Mid-

This paragraph (from "Last-minute Labour Day getaways" in 24H Vancouver on August 31, 2010) is disastrous. First, there needs to be a comma after Ontario. Second, a is out of place. Third, the second abbreviation of September needs a period to match the one the first abbreviation got. Fourth, regular should be capitalized.

The comany will also add

I recognize that the nonword comany (seen in "Let's go to Vegas" in today's 24H Vancouver) is probably supposed to be company, and I find it funny that the first suggestion given by Dictionary.com is cowman.

dealing with the stress of international travel, can seem to burdensome.

Jettison the comma and add an O to to and this sentence (from "Seven books in seven days" in 24H Vancouver on August 31, 2010) will be transformed into a proper sentence.

if fortune 500 companies such as: Microsoft and Google look for talent

The first error I noticed in this article ("Network using LinkedIn" in yesterday's 24H Vancouver) was the colon - why is it there? The sentence would be better - in fact, would be made correct - if the colon were simply removed (ouch!). It wasn't until I was posting about error number one that I noticed the second error: Fortune 500 should be capitalized.

what is the not-so-fun definition of "to scrabble?".

Another error seen yesterday on Dictionary.com. Not only is the question mark once again inside the closing quotation mark, but there is also a period outside the closing quotation mark. Click the image to enlarge it.

Oujia board

This error from Dictionary.com (seen yesterday) is worse than the one we posted yesterday. While a misplaced question mark is bad enough, a high-profile misspelling on a dictionary website is horrible. Click the image to enlarge it.

Classifiedsextra.ca

Another extra S in the classifieds section in 24H Vancouver on August 27, 2010.

Monday, August 30, 2010

with anther woman

According to dictionary.com, anther is a noun meaning "the pollen-bearing part of a stamen". I then had to look up stamen: "the pollen-bearing organ of a flower, consisting of the filament and the anther." The things one learns when another is misspelled. From "RCMP sex scandal" in today's 24H Vancouver.

KIDS WORRY ABOUT BEING RETURNING TO CLASS

I guess some writers don't worry about proofreading their work. In this case the writer of "Dealing with the back-to-school blues" in today's 24H Vancouver. Usually I can tell what the writer was going for, but not here. I think being just needs to be removed, but how did it get there? A headline is the worst place for an error, with subheadline coming in a close second.

The Alouettes veteran quarterback; the Lions' pourous offence are in for yet another big challenge

An apostrophe is needed at the end of Alouettes, but that's nothing compared to what comes next in "Time to fix things, and fast" in 24H Vancouver on August 30, 2010:

Pourous? The writer no doubt meant porous (which is the first suggestion when entering nonword pourous on dictionary.com), but even so, how can an offence be porous? I've heard of defences being porous (penetrable, sievelike), but I struggle to see how an offence can be characterized as such. Also, see how the writer wrote "Their defence has allowed"? Defence is singular there, but then the "pourous offence are in for a yet another big challenge" - why is defence singular and offence plural? They shouldn't be. Are should be is.

I searched online for the Lions' record (1-7 after seven straight losses!) and the first news item that turned up was the article that contains the above errors, albeit in a different location. I first spotted the errors in the print edition of today's 24H Vancouver, while my online search produced the article with a different headline and found on the Toronto Sun website. And yes, the errors are still there.

Roger Clemens to be arrainged

It really reflects poorly on a newspaper when there is a misspelling - resulting in a nonword - in a headline. From "Rocket Roger Clemens to be arrainged" in 24H Vancouver on August 27, 2010.

Mariana's Trench

This article ("Boys know how to have fun" in 24H Vancouver on August 27, 2010) is not the first time 24H has had problems with the spelling of Marianas Trench.

about a dozen people where there and had been drinking

I wonder how many editors and proofreaders were there before this article ("US ambassador's daughter, 17, dies in NYC fall" on Yahoo! Canada News on August 27, 2010) got published. I wonder if any of them had been drinking. Click the image to enlarge it.

Acadamey Award-winner Russell Crowe

The writer (of "Regis and Kelly (Television)" in 24H Vancouver on August 26, 2010) must have known there's an E in Academy, but didn't quite know where it went.

Buy any regular sandwhich and receive 2nd sandwhich

Once: oops. Twice: oh. From a Subway advertisement in 24H Vancouver on August 25, 2010. Since their entire business is focused on sandwiches, shouldn't they know how to spell sandwich?

Classifiedsextra.ca

Can you believe the same error has been repeated yet again in the classifieds section in 24H Vancouver? Yeah, I can believe it too. This time it's on August 26, 2010.

At his best, he's a fiesty forward

Was the writer of this article ("Vancouver Canucks sign free agent Raffi Torres" on The Georgia Straight online on August 25, 2010) at his best when he wrote the nonword fiesty instead of feisty? No time for proofreading? Not even time for a simple spell check, which would have caught this?

In his porfile

There is actually a name attached to this article ("NY cab driver stabbed in alleged anti-Muslim hate crime" on Yahoo! Canada News on August 25, 2010), yet 5 days after the article appeared the error remains. I wonder if the writer will include this article in her porfessional protfolio. Click the image to enlarge it.

Want to know a fresh way to say "summer?"

I'd rather find out why the question mark was put inside the closing quotation mark on Dictionary.com on August 25, 2010. I've seen this same error - with different questions - several times since.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Ryan Gossling

The article itself ("Festival guest list full of stars" in 24H Vancouver on August 25, 2010) has the actor's last name as Gosling, which is the correct way of spelling it. Photo caption error.

Classifiedsextra.ca

I don't think this sex-related misspelling will ever stop. From the classifieds section in 24H Vancouver on August 25, 2010. I'll admit that I'm a little surprised that a reader hasn't attempted to access the online classifieds site, seen that the address is wrong, and contacted 24H to let them know. Of course, maybe that all *has* happened and the last step of actually *fixing* the spelling (in what must be a template) is what hasn't happened.

hint of white lace peaking out around the cleavage

It's a variation of the peak/peek errors we've seen before, and while I'll admit that the juxtaposition of peaking and cleavage is amusing, it's clear to me that this is not a case of punny business. Some sort of wink, wink, nudge, nudge (e.g. lace "peak"ing out) would need to be on display. From "Twisted Panties" in 24H Vancouver on August 25, 2010.

NY cab drive asked if he was a Muslim

Let's play a game: Pin the R in the Sentence. From the Yahoo! Canada homepage on August 25, 2010. Hint: it goes at the end of a word that starts with D.

The jumper could been seen

The writer could be seen walking away from his desk before proofreading "Skydiver gets stuck on Rangers Ballpark flagpole" on Yahoo! Canada News on August 24, 2010.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Saskatchwan

There aren't very many provinces in Canada, yet the Yahoo! Canada homepage managed to feature a misspelled one on August 13, 2010. The province is Saskatchewan. Maybe it's more proof of an E shortage.

Ex-bandmate says Wyclef unfit to be Haiti president

Someone is unfit to be in charge of the Yahoo! Canada homepage on August 13, 2010. Someone is unfit to be in charge of the Yahoo! Canada homepage on August 13, 2010.

Back to the Future starting Michael J. Fox

This sentence (from "Back to future at David Lam Park" in 24H Vancouver on August 13, 2010) is a prime example of why a computer's spell check is not enough; a proofreader would realize that starting is supposed to be starring.

Classifiedsextra.ca

A newspaper is supposed to be dedicated to accuracy, right? So how can you trust a newspaper that consistently prints an incorrect website address? From the classifieds section in 24H Vancouver on August 12, 2010.

A Jim Belushi biopic in in the works again.

The first in should be is in "Who will play Belushi?" in 24H Vancouver on August 13, 2010.

O'Rielly

It's a misspelling of Bill O'Reilly's last name on the Yahoo! Canada homepage on August 12, 2010.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Danicek was 32-years-old; Vancouver's Lion's Gate bridge

From "Millions awarded after dance floor accident" on Yahoo! Canada News on August 11, 2010. Yo, Yahoo!, please remove the hyphens from 32-years-old. And while you're at it,

please spell Lions Gate Bridge correctly. That is, without the apostrophe and with a capital B.

Lose weight and Still enjoy all the great foods of the Summer

From an LA Weight Loss Centers advertisement in 24H Vancouver on August 11, 2010. This ad has got a bad case of random capitalization; neither still nor summer should be capitalized.

Courtney Cox Arquette

From "Television" in 24H Vancouver on August 11, 2010. Is there a sudden E shortage I should be concerned about? On August 9, 2010, an E got dropped from another celebrity's name in the same daily feature, and now Courteney gets the same mistreatment. In fact, the dropped Es are from previews for the same show; maybe the host's name uses up all the available Es.

Classifiedsextra.ca

From the classifieds section in 24H Vancouver on August 10, 2010. I wonder when the folks at 24H will learn the correct spelling to their own classifieds website. This is an ongoing thing.

The Twisted Panties Test-drive team are sniffing out the Sexiest scents

From "Twisted Panties" in 24H Vancouver on August 11, 2010. Is it Test Drive or Test-drive? I don't know, and apparently neither does the writer. However, I do know that team is singular so should be followed by is and not are. Finally, anyone want to take a guess as to why Sexiest is capitalized?

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

the same park where where a folk singer was killed

There is is an extra word in "Coyote attacks camper in N.S." in today's 24H Vancouver. This is the entire article. Would you agree with me if I suggested that the third sentence should be moved up to become the second sentence? The way it is now makes it seems like the folk singer who was killed went to the hospital for stitches, when surely it's the 16-year-old girl who was bit on Monday who went to the hospital for stitches.

A lawyer for the Braidwood Inquiry says its been vindicated

It's clear to me, and it should be clear to anyone who gets paid to write, that one of the two its from this opening paragraph of "Taser suit tossed" in today's 24H Vancouver is supposed to be it's.