Mind your ths and rds

This is posted where I work. How would you pronounce December 3th? Would it be December thirth? December threeth? Reminds me of the 2rd floor post. Is it the 18th annual or the 16th annual? Also, is the event REALTORS® CareBlanket Drive or is it REALTORS Care® Blanket Drive? It's twice the former and once the latter, making me think it's the former, but the logo on the left makes me think it's the latter. Click the image to enlarge it.

24 hours Vancouverrors - April 2012

 Here are the errors I detected on the pages of 24 hours Vancouver during April 2012. First up, the question mark at the end of the first paragraph in "Don't believe the hype in pursuit of love" on April 13, 2012, should be outside the closing quotation mark. Then,

22th should have been 22nd in a Tom Lee Music advertisement on April 20, 2012. Then,

I'm thinking the writer (of "How to handle awkward work situations" on April 23, 2012) couldn't choose between "I'm allergic to perfume" and "I've got allergies to perfume" so went with a mashup. Then,

it's an its/it's error in a TransLink advertisement on April 23, 2012. It was a front page ad that continued on the inside front cover, and what you see above was the main text on the inside front cover. Click an image to enlarge it.

job seekers have either come to me for resume rewriting or have already got great resumes; collect business card; you may be random people who may be

The writer (of "How to start a job search" in today's 24 hours Vancouver) should have either moved either to in front of the first have or eliminated the second have. Also,

business card should be business cards. As for social clubs, I'm pretty sure the first be is supposed to be meet. How does that go unnoticed during a proofreading?

ATM's

While the Yahoo! Canada homepage used an apostrophe to form the plural on July 29, 2010, the article being linked to has the plural written as ATMs.

ON SCHEDULE MAINTANENCE; any schedule maintance; July 31th

This is from a Richmond Subaru advertisement found in 24H Vancouver on July 16, 2010. Maintanence is a nice try, but it's maintenance. It's clear they didn't even try with maintance. I would think that both cases of schedule should be scheduled. Finally, the cherry on top: July 31th (July thirty-firth?) should be July 31st. There are 10 coupons in the ad and they all expire on July 31th, 2010.

It begs the question:

The writer of "City awash in cheap UFC tix" in today's 24H Vancouver apparently doesn't know what begs the question actually means.

to try and get away

The phrase to try and get away - seen here in "Shots fired in West Vancouver police chase" on CBC News online on April 20, 2010 - is wrong. It's the sort of thing you see/hear in casual writing/speech, but a major news company should know better. The correct way to write it, and say it, is to try to get away. Click the image to enlarge it.

"I get maybe a 100 call a day."

You can't be serious. "A 100 calls" - how can a professional writer think that that's right? "I get maybe a one hundred calls a day" - is that what the writer is wanting to write? Because that's exactly what the writer wrote. Either replace 100 with hundred, or jettison the a. I'm guessing the employee said "I get maybe a hundred calls a day", so why not write exactly that? This is from "Olympics are big business; and business is very good" in today's 24H Vancouver.

Colonel Sander's doppelganger

Earlier in the article the individual is correctly identified as Colonel Sanders, but then thanks to an errant apostrophe he becomes Colonel Sander. Meanwhile, dictionary.com's definition of doppelganger: "A ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its fleshly counterpart." The problem is that the trip wasn't supernatural; the trip was made to meet a Colonel Sanders impersonator. All this from one sentence's back-to-back words in 24H Vancouver's "Celebrity double takes" on January 15, 2010.

January 31th

There's a bit of a problem in this Xcitement advertisement (seen in The Georgia Straight on December 24, 2009). Actually, the problem is seen twice. It should be January 31st, not January 31th. This isn't the first error of its kind.

Canadian squad will try and win a sixth straight gold medal

-- "Hockey camp" in 24H Vancouver on December 3, 2009

People may casually say "try and win" in conversation, but in a published article try to win should be written. Unless the powers that be at 24H are psychic and already know that Canada will win gold.

I wanna a new drug; or veer you off your path"?

This is the headline for an article in Vancouver 24 hours on October 14, 2009. Beautiful isn't it. Even if the single-letter word a is removed there are still issues, but more on that later. First, another error:

See how the first question has the question mark inside the closing quotation mark? That's where it should be. The second question has the question mark outside the closing quotation mark; that's not where it should be.

Back to that headline. Who thinks that writing I wanna new drug is a correct slangy way of writing I want a new drug? Compare it with I wanna go to the game. Here wanna is in place of want to, not want a. I'm curious - is wanna a suitable substitute for both? And then what about the song "I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas. I Got To Feeling?

Facebook too hot for former Sunshine Girl; sexually expicity content

This is from the Vancouver 24 hours homepage about ten minutes ago. If she did indeed have sexually explicit content on her page, then maybe she was too hot for Facebook and not vice versa (which the headline declares).

More than 600 runners, walkers and joggers helped raised $90,000 for cancer research - joing the $490 million that's been donated

-- "Hero's legacy lives on" in Vancouver 24 hours on September 14, 2009

Firstly, I would like to know Vancouver 24 hours' opinion on the difference between running and jogging. Secondly, it's either raised $90,000 or helped raise $90,000. Thirdly, the choice of the word joining here makes me feel unsettled; replacing it with adding to might make me feel settled.

more than half her age

Nothing I see on Yahoo! Canada's homepage surprises me anymore. Earlier today I heard that Kathy Griffin and Levi Johnston had attended the awards show together, and five minutes ago I saw the above image (which links to this article). Johnston is 19 and Griffin is 48 - doesn't that mean that Johnston is less than half her age?

What did you do at 4:20 Monday? Smoked a spliff; Didn't smoke a spliff; Hmmm, working?

-- "Online poll" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 21, 2009

One of these things is not like the others. The last option should be, Hmmm, worked? If the question was changed to What were you doing at 4:20 Monday?, then Hmmm, working? would be a correct option. But in that case, the first two options would have to be changed to Smoking a spliff and Not smoking a spliff.

If the Blues can delay the broom, the series will return to Vancouver for game five on Thursday night.

-- "Vancouver readies the broom" in Vancouver 24 hours on April 21, 2009

Umm, no. When it comes to a playoff sweep (one team winning the first four games of a best-of-seven), it is impossible to delay the broom when down three games to none. If the Blues do win tonight, then they can not be swept. Hence, the Blues can prevent the broom, but not delay the broom

1000s of job listings

-- BC Job Network advertisement in Westender on February 12, 2009

Space is not an issue in this ad, so why is it 1000s instead of thousands. As it stands, the text is read as, one thousands of job listings. Even if space is an issue, please don't use 1000s to represent thousands.

hung a "do not disturb sign,"

-- "Homeless man squats in experimental shelter" in The Vancouver Courier on February 6, 2009

The closing quotation mark should be after disturb.

give a 110 per cent

-- "Delta’s Berger lives the dream" in Vancouver 24 hours on January 30, 2009

In other words, "give a one hundred and ten per cent". Wrong, right? Please please please write either give a hundred and ten per cent or give 110 per cent. Do not mix the two.