Dancle in the wind

At the start of the don't section of this article ("The Health Dos and Don'ts of Halloween Costumes" on Yahoo! Canada Shine on October 25, 2013), if you can get past the disagreement of the singular a paired with the plural jack-o-lanterns - get rid of the a, eh! - then you'll be treated to the wonder that is dancles. Dancles! DANCLES! I love dancles so much. Then,

this is the final item in the don't list. It should be in the do list, right? But let's not forget: DANCLES! Click an image to enlarge it.

Your true colours

Team Canada's new hockey and sledge hockey jerseys for the 2014 Sochi Olympics have been officially unveiled and this is how one writer (of "What do you think of Team Canada’s new jerseys?" on Yahoo! Canada News on October 8, 2013) described them. The thing is,

it looks to me like the white jersey has a white maple leaf and the red jersey has a red maple leaf. How do you see it? Click an image to enlarge it.

CBC British Columbia homepagerrors - August & September 2013

It's time for a recap of the errors seen on the CBC BC homepage, and you're in luck! What you have in front of you is two months worth of errors wrapped up in one delicious post (but please don't try to eat your computer). First, on August 11 it was reported that there was a crash involving a cruise ship full of police officers. The huge news is that there's a cruise that visits Prince George (not the royal baby), because that's a remarkable feat when you consider how far that city is from the ocean. Then,

on August 22 there was the redundant use of both a dollar sign and the word dollars. Then,

that homepage sentence is still alive and well as the article's first sentence. ("'I can't believe my eyes' says Burnaby lottery winner" on CBC News online on August 22, 2013.)  Three short paragraphs later, there's a number that should be numbers and there's a number that shouldn't have had the word million after it. Then,

on August 30 there was a my that should have been by and a missing storm that should have been between lightning and last. Then,

on September 3 there should have been a been between have and working, and there shouldn't have been a space between games and the comma that followed it. Then,

on September 9 the word sex was missing from between non-consensual and with. Then,

on September 14 targetting (yet another nonword on a homepage) should have been targeting. Then,

on September 23 there was another nonword. Crikey. Cricitism should have been criticism. Then,

after clicking to the article ("Nanaimo newspaper letter draws First Nation's cricitism" on CBC News online on September 23, 2013), I saw that the headline was exactly the same. That obnoxious headline deserves all the criticism (C-R-I-T-I-C-I-S-M) everyone can muster. Nonwords on homepages, nonwords in headlines - nobody behind the scenes who cares? As you can see in the image, below the headline, the article was updated at least once after posting, yet the glaring error remained. Finally,

on September 26 there was a repeated the between to and governments. Click an image to enlarge it.

Yahooooo! September 2013

It's the start of a new month which obviously means it's time to look back at the previous month - September 2013 - and recap the errors that the Yahoo! Canada homepage displayed to its readers. These might not be all of the errors, but they are the ones that I saw. First, on September 3 there was a her twofer. Then,

on September 7 there were hyphens in what should have been 36 years old. Then,

on September 22 this would have worked much better without the the before most. Then,

on September 23 there was a misspelling of relationship. With online dictionaries and spell checkers so easily accessible, there is no reason for nonwords to still get displayed online. On a homepage, too. Sheesh. Finally,

also on September 23, that apostrophe on the end of actress should not have been there. That's all for this month last month. Click an image to enlarge it.

♫ Why don't you know Friends, why don't you know Friends ♫

The writer of this article ("I Cheated on My Boyfriend and Don’t Regret It" on Yahoo! Canada Shine on September 26, 2013) is making a pop culture reference in which Ross Geller (a fictional character) and Jennifer Aniston (a real actor) take a break. That's cool. Click the image to enlarge it.

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.