Thursday, March 31, 2011

has/have, show/shows, and no in

One man is police custody? Please explain to me how someone can be police custody. From the first sentence in "Man killed in Downtown Eastside stabbing" on CBC News online on March 31, 2011. Later in the article,

has should be have, and


show should be shows. Click an image to enlarge it.

Yahoooooooo!

It's time for more fun and games provided by the Yahoo! Canada homepage. The writer of the above (from March 18, 2011) kicks sand into the face of Alex Pietrangelo - he's not a forward, he's a defenceman. Then,

on March 20, 2011, readers learned that Daniel Radcliffe bought a 6.3 million square-foot home. That's huge! It must've cost a fortune, maybe at least $6.3M. Next up,

readers saw a misplaced question mark on March 26, 2011; the question mark should be outside the closing quotation mark. Also on March 26,

a writer was resistant to the lure of spell checking. Two days later,

on March 28, 2011, there was a misspelling of Mayerthorpe. Later that same day,

hockey player Dion Phaneuf had an extra F inserted into his name. Then,

readers considered protesting the dropped W from Holt Renfrew on March 29, 2011. Later that day,

a writer kept the necessary hyphen out of Mary-Kate Olsen's name. Click an image to enlarge it.

Bust a moves, again

It's an error identical to one I posted two weeks ago. And it was found in the same place: the sports section of 24 hours Vancouver. This time it was on March 29, 2011. It's an obvious error in the headline - the headline! - yet the folks at 24 hours Vancouver remain oblivious to the obvious.

Were is the editor?

Where should be were in the second sentence in "Proctor trial hears family's pain, killer's apology" on CBC News online on March 29, 2011. Click the image to enlarge it.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

As opposed to an open-palm break?

I'm pretty sure fist should be first in this paragraph from "Meet Kim Cattrall: 'Sex and the City' icon glams down, packs on pounds to play aging porn star" on Yahoo! Canada News on March 29, 2011. Click the image to enlarge it.

Einhorn is Finkle. Justin is Jacob.

The article ("Move over, Einstein! 12-year-old boy has new theory of relativity" on Yahoo! Canada News on March 28, 2011) is about a kid named Jacob Barnett. Then, at the very end of the article, a dramatic entrance by someone named Justin. Click the image to enlarge it.

Another out-of-place a

It's an epidemic! Just like in the last post, there's an a here that should be erased. From "Saanich police issue sex assault warning" on CBC News online on March 28, 2011. Click the image to enlarge it.

The writer had a two errors

The single-letter word a should be erased, and an O should be removed from outshoot to produce outshot. From"NHL-leading Canucks roll past Blue Jackets" on Yahoo! Canada Sports on March 27, 2011. Click the image to enlarge it.

Perhaps.

Perhaps it was never going to be a pretty game, but can't readers expect an error-free article? Soccer players don't get a chance to edit their dribbling before shooting on net, but writers can edit their spelling and grammar before publishing an article. From "Hassli loses his head" on The Province online on March 27, 2011.

I guess the answer is the reader

The question is the headline: "Who's the sucker?" in Metronews Vancouver on March 25, 2011. The caption for the above-the-article photo includes a misspelling of Jena Malone's name. Then,

the article features a misspelling - possibly a typo - of director Zack Snyder's name,

and a misspelling of samurai. The writer seems to have trouble with S-words. Lastly,

it's a repeated misspelling of Zack Snyder's last name. Soooo, not a typo. Click an image to enlarge it.

There's no I in team

There's also no I in would. From "Panghali gets life sentence in wife's killing" on CBC News online on March 25, 2011.

Flight instructor: "Today you're going to fly solo."

Student: "How low?" The Vancouver Canucks have clinched the Western Conference, and have a very good shot at the Presidents' Trophy, yet their key players keep getting their names misspelled. The penalized player was Sami Salo. From "Canucks earn team-record 24th road win" on CBC Sports online on March 25, 2011. Click the image to enlarge it.

A Fail Blog fail

Seen at the 30-second mark of "Wide Turn FAIL" on Fail Blog on March 25, 2011. I have since discovered that submitted is missing its second T in every video.

Oh, CBC, how you amuse me

CBC, the way you manage to include two nonwords in one sentence puts a big smile on my face. Between my screen capturing and the writing of this sentence, seatblet has been corrected to seatbelt, but repeatedlty has not been corrected to repeatedly. From "B.C. RCMP officer charged with 2 assault counts" on CBC News online on March 24, 2011. Click the image to enlarge it.

More than one error here

I don't know if it's supposed to be 19,500 or 195,000, but I know that 195,00 is ridiculous. I also know that the word immediately preceding the number should be than. From "Tax fine rankles ‘old-fashioned’ Vancouver residents" on The Vancouver Courier online on March 24, 2011. Click the image to enlarge it.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Emergency boning services

This is from my friend, Jason:
I was searching for heating system maintenance and maybe an estimate on replacing the old furnace - but this? This is too much! (The comedy was in the ad itself at www.bccareheating.com - only the highlight is mine.)
The offending webpage for BC Care Heating Services Ltd. is here, and as of 6 p.m. on March 29, 2011, the error is there. Click the image to enlarge it.

Thanks, Jason!

You heard it here first

That hear doesn't belong in "No Joy in Metsville" in Sports Illustrated on March 14, 2011.

Then he went a-caroling

Maybe riding was originally passenger, but as it stands, there shouldn't be an a. From a photo caption from "Rebuilt to Last" in Sports Illustrated on March 14, 2011.

Monday, March 28, 2011

It's not smart to write than instead of then, especially in an article's first sentence

When will you learn to proofread? Usually it's then when than is needed, but here we have the reverse. From "Lessons learned while cycling" on The Vancouver Courier online on March 21, 2011.

Do you get paid to write?

Kudos to this writer (of "Do you dream like a writer?" in 24 hours Vancouver on March 21, 2011), who apparently gets paid to write crap. A book can be a bestseller (no hyphen) and the writer of a bestseller is a best-selling writer. Payed should be paid, but then we come to a wonderful error: They got 12 and 8.5 million dollars respectfully. Ha! Respectfully! Hey, writer, have you heard of this similar word: respectively?

Banish your own blunders

If you were writing an article with a headline of "Banish your online blunders" (in 24 hours Vancouver on March 21, 2011) wouldn't you be more cautious than usual about keeping blunders out of your work? Not this writer, who keeps on keeping on with the same type of errors he's made many times before. Then instead of than? Yawn.

It's an example about a woman. Not women. Woman. The women was called into her manager's office? For the love of fun. Someone at 24 hours please talk to this writer. Or at least look over his work before it gets published. This is far from the first time he's blundered.

Swangard holds 5,000+

If Empire Field only has room for 2,300 fans, why not continue playing at Swangard Stadium where over twice as many fans could watch? Unless the problem here is a missing digit and not a misplaced comma. From the CBC British Columbia homepage on March 20, 2011.

Still lacking class

An L is still missing from the classifieds section in 24 hours Vancouver; the image above is from March 21, 2011.

Not so hot

Someone needs to learn how to proofread; hot should be how in "Make a difference at Adler School" in 24 hours Vancouver on March 21, 2011.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Maybe the target was Ted. A target-Ted hit.

The word targeted has only two Ts, while targetted is just a collection of letters that results in a nonword. From "Officer docked day's pay for overlooking victims" on CBC News online on March 18, 2011. Also from that article,

I think Surakka was probably holding up her daughter's picture. Click an image to enlarge it.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Yahooooooooo!

More fun on Yahoo! webpages! From the Yahoo! Canada homepage on March 10, 2011, it should be either scientist explains (if there was only one scientist) or scientists explain (if there were two or more scientists). Also from the Yahoo! Canada homepage on March 10, 2011,

I assume Candian water is a brand of bottled water, similar to Evian, so I'm safe because the only water I drink comes from the tap in my Canadian home. No need, then, for me to click that link. Then, again from the homepage,

a geography lesson for the person that wrote this on March 11, 2011: Tofino is on the west coast of Vancouver Island and is quite far from the city of Vancouver. After the Japan earthquake and tsunami, an evacuation from Tofino is far more reasonable than an evacuation from Vancouver would have been. I click to the article ("Twilight stars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner evacuate Vancouver Island set threatened by tsunami" on Yahoo! Canada News on March 11, 2011), and

read about Tinsel Corey's tweet. After some very quick research, I realized her name is actually Tinsel Korey. After going to Tinsel Korey's personal website,

I see on the landing/welcome page that the author of the Twilight book series got both her first and last names butchered. Her name is Stephenie Meyer and not Stephanie Meyers as the above text would have you believe. Next,

the Yahoo! Canada homepage on March 12, 2011, features a doubling of off. Jettisoning the second off would be a nice fix. Then,

I have no idea - none at all - what this text from March 14, 2011, is supposed to mean. Therefore, I sure as heck didn't click it. From March 15, 2011,

whose decision was it to leave the second I out of decision? Isn't there anybody at Yahoo! who has an eye for detail? Finally,

again from March 15, 2011, the young girl's IQ is higher than Einstein's. See the difference?

It's not its. It's not inquires.

First off, its should be it's. Later in the article ("Students derailed by private university" on CBC News on March 16, 2011) there's this:

Inquires is missing an I to make it inquiries.