Monday, January 30, 2012

At least they're inconsistent

The rule at Yahoo! appears to be to only add an apostrophe (and no S) when a name ends with S and the following word begins with a W. The exception to the rule is when a name ends with S and the following word begins with a W - that requires an apostrophe *and* an S. Got it? From the "News For You" sidebar on Yahoo! Canada News on January 24, 2012.

A rare peak

This is far from the first time I've seen peek misspelled in this fashion, but peek misspelled in this fashion without it following sneak is a rare sighting. From the MSN Canada homepage on January 27, 2012. Click the image to enlarge it.

You're a P short

This on-screen graphic - featuring several misspellings of anthropomorphizes - occurred during The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on January 10, 2012.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

24 hours Vancouverrors

Here are some recent errors made by the staff at 24 hours Vancouver. First up, 33-year-old required hyphens in "Heigl keen to adopt again" on January 17, 2012. Then,

affect should have been effect in this sentence from "The bare truth: Showing skin at work not a good idea" on January 23, 2012. Then,

on January 25, 2012, the name was Biddlecombe throughout the article ("Serial killer warning quashed"), but an E got added on final mention. Then,

why did this teaser on the newspaper's front page on January 26, 2012, tell readers that there is only one beach in New Zealand? That the should have been an a. Then,

nobody puts the BC Coroners Service in a corner. From the newspaper's homepage on January 27, 2012. Then,

the first the should have been spotted and removed from this sentence in "Gratuity gripes hit tipping point" on January 27, 2012. Finally,

LMFAO is properly all capped in the headline then all wrong in the first sentence of "Madonna with LMFAO?" on January 27, 2012.

There's an error in view

I can understand when misspellings occur and a wrong word appears in an article, but when a misspelling results in a published nonword, that is pure carelessness. From "B.C. ferry report demands changes" on CBC News online on January 24, 2012.

Of words and errors

Left untouched, this sentence (from "Facebook Timeline mandatory rollout: You have 7 days to scour your past" on Yahoo! Canada News on January 24, 2012) contains an extra word. Click the image to enlarge it.

Use your PIN number to take $10,000 dollars out of the ATM machine

It should come as no surprise to anyone, including professional journalists, that the dollar sign ($) represents the word dollar(s). Therefore, having both the dollar sign and the word dollars is redundant. From the final sentence of "Teen's death still unsolved 1 year later" on CBC News online on January 22, 2012. Click the image to enlarge it.

Tormented by bad writing

If the word children is plural, then what is the word childrens? Trick question - it's not a word. That apostrophe should be before the S. From "Blinded by the light" on the front page of Metronews Vancouver on January 13, 2012.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Who think's this is correct?

At least one person at CBC actually thinks that an apostrophe belongs in thinks. All I can say to that one person is, Oh honey. From "TransLink tables new fare increase" on CBC News online on January 10, 2012. Today is January 26 and the error is still there. Click the image to enlarge it.

Skimming is not the exactly the same as proofreading

There is one the too many in this sentence from "Facebook's newest frontier: inside the car" on Yahoo! Canada News on January 9, 2012. The the that does not belong is the one between not and exactly. Click the image to enlarge it.

Canbucks versus Hurrianes

In this player note for Cory Schneider (from Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Hockey on December 15, 2011), Hurricanes is missing its C and Canucks gained a B. Then,

in early January, the player note for Jonathan Quick made reference to a specific game he played against the Kings, and mentions 16 total games in which he's battled the Kings. The problem? As of the writing of this sentence on January 26, 2012, every single NHL game Quick has played in has been for the Kings.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Don't upset the bride

The headline of the article ("Defence Minister Peter MacKay shares photo of recent intimate wedding" on Yahoo! Canada News on January 9, 2012) and the article itself both focus on the release, and content of, a single wedding picture. Yet in the photo caption of said single wedding picture, the bride's name is misspelled. Her first name is Nazanin.

FAILING - FAILING - FAILING

I was reading an article on Yahoo! Canada Finance when the "Top Stories" portion of the sidebar caught my eye. I clicked the link to the top story and got taken to this article. After reading the entire article twice, I'm still trying to answer the who-what-when-where-why of it all. Answering even one of the five Ws would suffice.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Alfonso's last name does not rhyme with cheerio

If Alfonso Ribeiro is an egomaniac he may be gunning for the writer of this article. From "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Star Janet Hubert Slams "Egomaniac" Will Smith" on Yahoo! Canada OMG! on December 27, 2011.

Seeing double

It's the opening paragraph of the article ("What does Louis CK’s $5 video mean for the future of online media?" on Yahoo! Canada News on December 26, 2011), and there is an obvious error. What did the writer earn earn from the gaffe? Walking papers? Click the image to enlarge it.

You or fired

Really? Misspelling or as are? Really? This is the final sentence of "Video reveals 2 possible B.C. homicide witnesses" on CBC News online on December 22, 2011. (Since the time of obtaining the screen capture, the headline has been changed to "Suspect vehicle seized in slain Surrey teen case".)

Sooo, there are 8 bedrooms?

There are four easily accessible bedrooms in this $88M apartment, according to "Billionaire's Daughter Pays Record Sum for NYC Pad" on Yahoo! Canada Finance on December 20, 2011. And then, once you meander past a few words and a couple of commas, there are four more bedrooms. Click the image to enlarge it.

This Yahoo! writer must be a has-been

This is the first sentence from the article ("Here's What 2016 Will Look Like, Says IBM" on Yahoo! Canada Finance on December 19, 2011), and the word has has no business being there. Click the image to enlarge it.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Dot the I's and include all the T's

This misspelling of Coquitlam Station ( from "Man in critical condition after stabbing in Coquitlam, B.C." on CBC News online on December 15, 2011) is the first sentence of the article. Later in the article,

TransLink is not capitalized properly each time it's written. Click an image to enlarge it.

You're writing stinks! Let me help you!

This is one side of a flyer from Keller Williams Elite Realty flyer that arrived in our mailbox on December 14, 2011. Firstly, the first your should be you're. Secondly, I think the first exclamation mark should be a comma. Or change the first sentence to, Are you thinking of selling your house?, and the second one to, If so, let me help you!

Write it, then proofread it

I've had this one for a while, but I just never got around to posting it until now. I'm a fan of Amazing Race, but I'm not a fan of the above question that was on the bio for every team on the most recent season. Click the image to enlarge it.

Yahoo! December 2011

It's that time again: here are the errors seen on the Yahoo! Canada homepage during December 2011. So few! So very few! I don't know if Yahoo! was more on the ball and reduced errors significantly or if I was not on the ball and missed a lot of errors, but I have only two errors from the entire month! First, on December 7, sing should have been sign, and there should have been an apostrophe in drivers' attention. Then,

someone dropped an extra E into listeners on December 29. Huh, I guess that makes it three errors, since the first screen capture was a 2-in-1 special. See you next time!