To be or not to

The rest of the article ("Mayor Rob Ford slams $75K chair purchase" on Yahoo! Canada News on September 27, 2013) is fine, but what the fun is going on with that middle paragraph above? The first sentence is utter nonsense, and the second one seems to start fine but then abruptly ends without a proper conclusion. My conclusion: the writer was drunk at the time of writing, and the editor (if there even is one) didn't care to, you know, edit. The second sentence seemed to start fine, but it actually didn't. The article details how 30 chairs were purchased for $75,000. So how does the $25,000 relate to this story? My guess: $75,000 divided by 30 equals $2,500 and then an extra 0 was tacked on. Then,

I was curious about that middle paragraph (and paragraph is used very loosely) so I looked up the article on CBC News, where I believe it originated. ("Mayor Rob Ford slams $75K chair purchase" on CBC News online on September 27, 2013.) Some of the confusion was cleared up, but the absense of apostrophes is puzzling, and the $25,000 is there with no explanation. Click an image to enlarge it.

The S.S. Misspelling

Britney's last name gets shortened in the headline but is back in its usual form immediately afterward. From "Spear will sing - with backing track" in 24 hours Vancouver on September 27, 2013. Click the image to enlarge it.

I instead of E, except after Krist

Kristen Stewart should consider raising money for MSN, to be used to employ better writers and editors. From the MSN Canada homepage on September 10, 2013. Click the image to enlarge it.

This piece of fiction is hilarious

The first thing wrong with this excerpt (from "Paul Ranger’s kick-stick shot in shootout is hilarious to everyone but Sabres goalie (Video)" on Yahoo! Canada Sports on September 22, 2013) is the word participated - it should be participate. The second thing wrong is Paul Ranger's last name going from Ranger (correct) to Rangers (incorrect). The third thing wrong is that Ranger's shot gets called a goal in the article's final sentence; Ranger didn't score on the play. Click the image to enlarge it.

A couple of open and shut cases

I read Andre Agassi's Open and I liked it. However, there were a couple of errors.

1. On page 338: "... when a team of landscapers arrive." The subject is team, not landscapers, so arrive should be arrives.
2. On page 357: "Ladies and gentleman, I introduce you to the greatest person I have ever known." This error is more obvious than the previous one - gentleman should be gentlemen.

Does the question mark "go here?"

An issue from the September/October 2013 issue of Mental Floss (Volume 12, Issue 6). That question mark (in the opening question in "25 of your Most Pressing Questions Answered!") is supposed to be outside the closing quotation mark. Then,

in question 15 the question mark is again placed incorrectly. D'oh! Click an image to enlarge it.

A proofradr would've spottd th splling rror

Look at Seth's last name in the headline, and then look at Seth's last name below the headline. The writer dropped an E, maybe after dropping E. Also, there should have been a comma after Ashe. From "Weekend update: Myers got married" in 24 hours Vancouver on September 3, 2013

All the Rs were used up

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal battled in this year's US Open final on September 9, 2013. At one point during the match the camera focused on Nadal's girlfriend, who was watching from the stands. Oh - no wait: It was Nadal's girlfiend. Urban Dictionary's top entry for girlfiend is this definition: "A girl who's your friend but treats you like a boyfriend without the positive benefits. Such as sex, emotional support and compassion."

Polit-huh?

This is the first sentence of an article ("Calgary’s Naheed Nenshi and Sun News’ Ezra Levant spar in epic Twitter battle" on Yahoo! Canada News on September 8, 2013) and I didn't bother reading any further. If you're writing for a political blog and you consider yourself a politico, then maybe you should be able to spell politico.

An a-muse-ing error

I got an email from Random House on August 20, 2013, that focused on some new and upcoming books. Can you spot the error? Click the image to enlarge it.

Yahooooooooo! August 2013

Hi everyone! Did you have a good August? I did, and hope you did too. Let's see if Yahoo! had a good August 2013 by looking at the errors that appeared on the Yahoo! Canada homepage during that month. First, on August 3 there was this there was this error. After I clicked to the article,

I saw the third sentence of the article ("Language commissioner chastises John Baird for unilingual business cards" on Yahoo! Canada News on August 2, 2013) also contained an error. The apostrophe-S at the end of that is plain silly. Then,

on August 4 there was inconsistent capitalization. One of these lines is not like the others. Then,

again on August 4, then should have been than. Than Then,

on August 11 peak should have been peek. Then,

on August 16 there was this nonsense. Firstly, homerun should have been correctly written as home run. Secondly, everyday should have been every day. Thirdly, "somehow this grounder him back to home plate" is a hot mess. I think the easiest fix is inserting the word got between grounder and him. Most importantly, the play in question wasn't even a home run - the article itself states it was "a ground ball single to the pitcher with two errors attached". Then,

on August 27 it's should have been its. Then,

on August 29 there was an amusing misspelling of annoying. Finally,

again on August 29 there was another amusing misspelling - this time of during. I'd say that was an average month for Yahoo!, wouldn't you? Click an image to enlarge it.

A lot of people are stroking the string

The writer of this article ("VIDEO: Wasp invasion stings southern B.C." on CBC News online on August 31, 2013) went for a pun in the opening sentence, but didn't quite nail it. Click the image to enlarge it.

Not a good start

The photo caption at the top of the article ("Man airlifted to hospital after Maple Ridge shooting" on CBC News online on August 31, 2013) contains a misspelling resulting in a nonword (decended should be descended) and the article's first word is An when it should be A. Click the image to enlarge it.

Get meet, it pays

Two errors: met should be meet, and the word at should be inserted between him and a. From "Woman reclaims 'stolen' bike from Craigslist seller" on CBC News online on August 26, 2013. Click the image to enlarge it.