Thursday, September 15, 2011

Why?

In this photo caption (from "Protests grow against Gordon Campbell award" on CBC News online on September 5, 2011), why would the writer misspell Bill Tieleman's last name? And why would they leave out the word are from between there and a? In the article itself, Tieleman's last name was misspelled all four times it was written. Now, in an apparent fix, it alternates: it's introduced correctly, then is wrong, is correct, and ends wrong. Why? Why only fix two of the four and why leave the photo caption alone entirely? Also,

why has the weirdness surrounding the date and time of posted articles not been fixed? Click an image to enlarge it.

"Forrrrrrrrre!"feited

What does forefeited mean? Does it mean the car-less drivers will now have to do all their driving on a golf course? From "Alleged street-racing cars may be confiscated" on CBC News online September 8, 2011.

It's not its

The its should be it's in this sentence from "Donated 'Books for Charity' sold for profit online" on The Vancouver Courier online on September 2, 2011.

Who decided on that date?

The first thing I noticed about this article ("Princeton pool plans worry residents" on CBC News online on September 2, 2011) was the odd posting date and time. It's awfully similar - actually, it's identical - to the posting date of the article in the last post. Then,

in the article's final sentence, decided should be decide. Click an image to enlarge it.

That's old news

I didn't find anything wrong with the writing in this article ("1 woman dead, 1 arrested at Burnaby highrise" on CBC News online on September 1, 2011), but I do think that the date and time of the article's posting - seen beneath the headline - is a little unusual. Click the image to enlarge it.

That's not Susan! That's not Susan!

It's not the first time CBC News has misspelled Suzanne Anton's name. And I'll bet it's not the last time either. From "Chief says Vancouver riot review backs police" on September 1, 2011.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Yahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! August 2011

In case you haven't noticed, August 2011 is over. Here, then, is a collection of the errors that were detected on the Yahoo! Canada homepage for that month. For starters, from August 1, there was one T too many in what should have been starlet. Then,

on August 3, the writer of the above got an F for spelling Academy with three A's and no E's. Then,

August 4 blessed us with a twofer. 178 years old should not have had any hyphens, and nonword subsized should have been subsidized. Then,

on August 5, embarrassing was short an R and,

in a baffling error, the first to should have been it. Then,

this line from August 8 should not have included an apostrophe in 1980s. Then,

on August 10, LeBron's what gets help from legend? His headband? More likely, LeBron's name should not have had anything added to it. Then,

August 12 saw three errors. Firstly, a repeated the. Secondly,

an should have been a because rare definitely does not begin with a vowel sound. Thirdly,

premier should have been premiere. After clicking to that article ("Make a Film Foundation and Hollywood celebrities help sick teen Clay Beabout realize his filmmaking dream" on Yahoo! Canada News on August 12, 2011),

I noticed missing hyphens in what should have been 14-year-old, and another shortened premiere. Then,

August 14 featured an incorrect S on bikes in what should have been bike lanes, and

an incorrect apostrophe in what should have been its. Then,

on August 15, this link was to an article ("It's A Girl For Jessica Alba!" on Yahoo! Canada News on August 14, 2011) about Jessica Alba. Oh, and the movie she was in is Sin City. Then,

on August 18 there was another mispelled movie title; this time the victim was The Big Lebowski. Then,

there were several errors on display on August 19. Firstly, the homepage had amoeba correct half the time, but the larger font is the incorrect spelling. Secondly,

woman should have been women. Thirdly,

a T was subtracted from what should have been subtract. After clicking to that article ("Watching television is taking years off your life (basically)" on Yahoo! Canada Shine on August 19, 2011),

I spotted a couple of errors in the first paragraph above. In the second sentence, the word of is missing from between out and the, and less should be fewer. In the second paragraph, watches should be watchers. Then,

back to the homepage, the fourth and final error from August 19 was the absence of hyphens in what should have been a two-year-old's perspective. Then,

on August 20 there was a misspelling of thieves and

a subject-verb disagreement. Yes, scientists make a discovery, but a team makes a discovery. See the difference? Then,

on August 21, it should have been four-month old. Then,

why should have been what on August 22. Also from that day,

quickie is missing its C. Then,

there were several errors on August 24. Firstly, the writer of the above should develop an addiction to dictionaries. Secondly,

there was a hyphen missing from 9,000-year-old (and the article's headline was - and still is - exactly the same). Thirdly,

peak should have been peek. Lastly,
effects should have been affects. Then,

from August 27, is it Eastern Canada or is it eastern Canada? C'mon Yahoo!, you can't have it both ways. Also from that day,

Britney's last name should have been left alone: Spears reveals dream job. Then,

on August 28, Yahoo! couldn't even spell its own Flickr website correctly, and

the article's headline had it wrong as well. The headline has since been corrected but you can still see the misspelling in the web address. Then,

on August 29, this writer probably fibbed on their resume when applying to Yahoo!, because how else can you explain the missing R from what should have been your employment history and the missing E from what should have been interview gaffes? Finally,

also from August 29, the third the should be they. I wonder why Yahoo! is hesitant to actually present themselves as competent and trustworthy. Click an image to enlarge it.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

CBC British Columbia homepagerrors

Here now are a few more errors that were detected on the CBC British Columbia homepage. All the homepage errors were repeated in the associated article's first sentence. First up, I saw a misspelled condition on August 3, 2011. Then,

on August 10, 2011, I think the word used should have been used here, right after the word hours. Then,

on August 18, 2011, the word is was missing from between she and going. Then,

on August 19, 2011, YouTube was capitalized correctly half the time, and I think the words potentially and a should have swapped places. Then,

on August 22, 2011, hims should have been S-less. Also, why was it road rage driver (without a hyphen) but road-rage incident (with a hyphen)? When I clicked to - and read - the article ("Road rage driver pins B.C. man against car" on CBC News online on August 22, 2011),

the word he should have been in existence between said and was. Then,

on August 25, 2011, the first new should have been spotted and removed. In the article itself ("Increasing painkiller use alarms B.C. expert" on CBC News online on August 25, 2011),

near the end there is a sudden capitalization issue affecting Vancouver and

i (which should be me but don't blame the writer - s/he is quoting a speaker, who happens to be a university professor). Then,

on August 27, 2011, an should be a. When it comes to the associated articles, all the first sentences have been fixed, except this one - see for yourself: "B.C. boating accident kills Edmonton girl" on CBC News online. Click an image to enlarge it.