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I would not buy it. But then, I used to pull out a red pen and correct signs in grocery stores.
Ahh yes - know exactly how you feel! Having been a magazine editor + proof-reader for much of my life, it makes me crazy to see typos - but also understand that sometimes things can slip through the cracks. Once I typed Brain Crater instead of Brian Carter and never picked up the typo till it was published :oops:
I love this thread and can't believe I just now found it! Spelling and grammatical errors just drive me bonkers, I can understand the occasional (but still annoying) type but I really agree that some people just don't care. Which reminds me of one of my favorite pet peeve irritating expressions, "I could care less". Wait a minute, if someone really doesn't care then isn't the whole point that they could NOT care less? If you could care less then it stands to reason that you must care a little bit, right? No spelling or punctuation errors but it still annoys me.
I have got to find some of these books and check them out...thanks for sharing about "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" sounds very interesting. My sister works in publishing so maybe I'll pick up a copy for her as well.
I agree, when so many seem not to know better, or maybe they simply don't care, I'm not sure. One thing that really annoys me of late, is advertising companies making up words- one recent one that REALLY bugs me is that a particular frozen meal is ' ovenable'- I hate this every time I see it. Surely for a word to end in -able, it must be a verb? I wash something, or it is washable. I do NOT oven anything- I cook/roast/ whatever, but definitely not oven!
OK, rant over, lol.
Hmm - ovenable? Never heard that one! We have microwaveable meals which people seem to accept. Therefore the "ovenable" meal must be freezerable before it is ovenable. Or if you kept it in your cupboard, it would be cupboardable or shelfable LOL!
If you saw "I luv you" as a sentiment, would you buy it knowing that love is spelt incorrectly? Just wondering.......
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If you saw "I luv you" as a sentiment, would you buy it knowing that love is spelt incorrectly? Just wondering.......[/QUOTE]
Definitely not! I hate it, almost as much as I hate 'I lurve you'.I get really irritated by 'text speak' too.I don't have a problem with lol, rofl, etc, but when I get a message that seems one step sideways from hieroglyphics, I usually give up. My Beloved Husband had a rant on FaceBook the other week at peoples messages done like this- we have a keyboard full of keys- use them.And your spellchecker while you're at it!Sometimes it seems like the messages should have that little Google thing next to them...'Translate this page?' lol.
I know we Brits have a habit of using extraneous letters in our words (its just a part of our lovable eccentricity) but thats all part of the fun, working out which ones you pronounce, and which ones you pretend aren't there, lol.
For instance, I live in Worcestershire, the county of Worcester. Worcester rhymes with Custer:confused: There is a town in England called Charlmondley.Pronounced Chumley. Even I can't figure that one:confused::confused:
My father was an English Teacher. My grammar is not perfect, but I cringe when I see obvious errors, like apostrophes used incorrectly, and really basic stuff like "too, to, two" and "you're, your" confused.
I'll use some gamer terms. I like to use "noob, pwn, aggro", but only sparingly. I hate the use of "prolly" instead of "probably". I've even heard some of my friends say "prolly". Keep in mind, we're not teens!
My children like to check out this blog The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks every now and then. Our country really does seem to have an issue with punctuation and word usage and it is only getting worse with all the texting and social networking use of improper grammar.
so can I bring up "gift" used as a verb?? :P
I know this has been going on a few years now, but it still grates so badly and I think less of whoever uses it that way. UGH!!
I've enjoyed this thread! I should long have been in bed but had to read to the end. My daughter presented "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" to me... love it. I always have to laugh inside at the dust jacket illustration and the joke that led to its title. My besetting sin is overusing the ellipsis to connect, rather than simply making two sentences. I find myself doing it all the time, and having to read back and delete, though I never part with all of them. Does this syndrome have a name? Laziness? Ellipsyitis?? Let me know if my posts and card comments are driving you crazy. I have many of the same dislikes that you have listed here. One I seem to see more and more is the use of effect for affect.
__________________ Everyone needs a dog to adore him, and a cat to bring him back to reality. "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." George Washington
For as long as I can remember, this word has bothered me to no end. My mom says "sherbert" as well and I automatically correct her every time without even meaning to. Why in the world do people put that extra letter in there? That word is everywhere - just do a google search and there are almost more "sherberts" than "sherbets" that pop up! :confused:
Sherbert is not a word, people. LOL!
Oh, and to answer the original question, if I noticed it, I would not buy it. I also would not be likely to say anything. I mentioned something for the new Unity site when they asked for input, but only because they asked. It used to say, "Past kit of the months" and it drove me nuts.
However, as a writer, I find it's much easier to correct other people's mistakes than see them in my own writing. My mind fills in what it thinks it typed even though it isn't there. I found an error in one of my books the other day that is one of my pet peeves! Ten passes by me, three from my editor, and several friends reading it, and none of us caught that I somehow typed buy for bye. Seriously??? UGH.
My children like to check out this blog The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks every now and then. Our country really does seem to have an issue with punctuation and word usage and it is only getting worse with all the texting and social networking use of improper grammar.
Went and had a look at this site- so funny. I admit, this is one of my pet hates, speech or quotation marks in totally unnecessary or inappropriate places. And it's not just your country, it's over here too.
Hmm - ovenable? Never heard that one! We have microwaveable meals which people seem to accept. Therefore the "ovenable" meal must be freezerable before it is ovenable. Or if you kept it in your cupboard, it would be cupboardable or shelfable LOL!
If you saw "I luv you" as a sentiment, would you buy it knowing that love is spelt incorrectly? Just wondering.......
I DID buy a set with "I luv you" but I cut out the offending sentiment! It was inside a heart. Now I can write my OWN (correctly spelt) words inside the heart. Grrrr. But I dislike nearly ALL non-generic sentiments that come with any set anyway.
Oh, and to answer the original question, if I noticed it, I would not buy it. I also would not be likely to say anything. I mentioned something for the new Unity site when they asked for input, but only because they asked. It used to say, "Past kit of the months" and it drove me nuts.
However, as a writer, I find it's much easier to correct other people's mistakes than see them in my own writing. My mind fills in what it thinks it typed even though it isn't there. I found an error in one of my books the other day that is one of my pet peeves! Ten passes by me, three from my editor, and several friends reading it, and none of us caught that I somehow typed buy for bye. Seriously??? UGH.
Someone gave me a tip to help catch one's own errors that I try to remember to do when proofreading:
Read the document backwards ... the mind is less likely to self-correct when done this way.
As for the original question I would be like you and not buy it if I noticed the error but not let them know about it either.
Someone gave me a tip to help catch one's own errors that I try to remember to do when proofreading:
Read the document backwards ... the mind is less likely to self-correct when done this way.
As for the original question I would be like you and not buy it if I noticed the error but not let them know about it either.
I must admit, I had been wondering if the spelling errors were more down to our brain self-correcting, rather than people not proof-reading properly. I'm sure we've all seen the text/ facebook messages with loads of letters missing that we can still make sense of.
I think the only way is to get at least two other people to read too. I've checked and double-checked price-lists and catalogues and had two colleagues check them and still found errors after they came back from the printers. Arghh. We just see what we know should be there.
Even Stephen King's novels have errors... (he's supposed to be one of the cleanest writers out there). It's the one thing that keeps me from giving up completely.
My guess is that it's the old, "Doesn't matter what order the letters are as long as the first and last are in the right places," or something. Oddness.
I am a communications professor, and it seems that each year the students' writing gets worse. They used to have trouble with things like "whomever" and "whoever", but now they have trouble with it's vs. its and your vs. you're. affect/effect. too/two/to. They don't know when to use "I" and when to use "me" or "myself". I deduct major marks for grammatical errors, and students complain all the time that I'm too tough on them. I have also been known to correct signs in stores with a black sharpie pen. I thought I was the only one who did that, but I'm glad to see I am not alone LOL!
Gee, no one has mentioned the common use of I seen. It makes me want to grab the speaker by the throat, yelling I HAVE seen or I saw!!!
I actually posted about terribly poor grammar in a thread where the person was claiming to be a teacher, and asking for donations. Turns out the school she claimed to teach at had NO idea who she was, nor were they aware of any donations being solicited in their name. (Another SCS member did the investigating.) It was so poorly written that I could not accept that it was done by a person with a college degree. Of course, the OP in that thread made many excuses (all badly written) and attacked those of us questioning her. Funny how the offers to donate dried up once a few of us pointed out our suspicions.
I also cringe at their/there/they're and to/too/two.
And I did once edit a glossy brochure from a high-class automotive shop, using red pen, and mailed it back to them. I never got any response to that, though.
Actually, I happen to know a woman with a MASTER's degree in social work. Let's just say her spelling is so atrocious that she must have gotten through school thanks to the spell check in Word or paid an editor. Her posts on message boards make her sound uneducated and almost developmentally delayed.
She's actually quite brilliant when you talk TO her but written communication is not her forte.
Then there was the woman in Larry Burkett's book on finances with a Master's in math. She was having trouble with bounced checks, so Mr. Burkett asked her how she balanced her checkbook. She told him that she got the checks in the mail and made sure she wrote them (this was back when you got your checks back every month). Then she added them up, added that amount to her bank balance, and now she could write more checks.
I read that part of the book so many times because I was SURE I'd misread it. Mr. Burkett was flabbergasted.
Actually, I happen to know a woman with a MASTER's degree in social work. Let's just say her spelling is so atrocious that she must have gotten through school thanks to the spell check in Word or paid an editor. Her posts on message boards make her sound uneducated and almost developmentally delayed.
She's actually quite brilliant when you talk TO her but written communication is not her forte.
Then there was the woman in Larry Burkett's book on finances with a Master's in math. She was having trouble with bounced checks, so Mr. Burkett asked her how she balanced her checkbook. She told him that she got the checks in the mail and made sure she wrote them (this was back when you got your checks back every month). Then she added them up, added that amount to her bank balance, and now she could write more checks.
I read that part of the book so many times because I was SURE I'd misread it. Mr. Burkett was flabbergasted.
Love the second anecdote!
I work in customer service at a catalog company. A very inexpensive catalog company, by the way. Try explaining to a customer that the reason they didn't get, say, a $10.99 refund for a $10.99 item was because they didn't include enough in the first place. I walk them through simple math- the total for the items you did get was XX.XX, plus shipping of XX.XX, and a X.XX processing fee, which equals XX.XX. Subtract that from what you sent in, and it equals the amount we refunded. Then go over it at least three more times, because you cannot make them see. They will insist that the item that was sold out cost $10.99, and they want $10.99 back. I've even had them get out paper, made them write out the figures, do the math, and STILL tell me they don't understand.
I don't want to publically call out the company. There are DT members from the team that frequent this site and I don't want to rile anyone up If you want, I can PM you the info.
I can tell you that it's not slang - it's an unnecessary apostrophe. Both in the title of the set and in a sentiment, there is a word that is supposed to be plural and instead it is possessive.
I would not buy it... I would be irritated and grumpy every time I saw the stamp... PLECH!
However, as a writer, I find it's much easier to correct other people's mistakes than see them in my own writing. My mind fills in what it thinks it typed even though it isn't there. I found an error in one of my books the other day that is one of my pet peeves! Ten passes by me, three from my editor, and several friends reading it, and none of us caught that I somehow typed buy for bye. Seriously??? UGH.
As a writer, former proofreader, and college composition teacher, I have to agree. It's SO easy to miss an error. Some of my best catches as a proofreader were AFTER I'd read the page, reached for a can of soda, took a swig, and glanced at the page. The same goes for grading papers and checking my own work. No matter how careful I am, mistakes will slip through. That's why I'm more forgiving of errors than I used to be, especially on the internet. Published works (including newspapers and magazines) and professional signs, however, really do need to be correct; I'm more annoyed by errors from professionals, who at least should quadruple-check to keep errors to a minimum!
My biggest pet peeve is people writing 'loose' when they mean 'lose'!!!! As in 'I'm going to *loose* weight' -- the only way to 'loose weight' is to take your belt off and let it all hang out.
It's LOSE -- 'loose' is an adjective, 'lose' is a verb! Your shoestrings are loose. Your belt is loose. You lose your mind. Your lose your money. You lose weight.
I work in customer service at a catalog company. A very inexpensive catalog company, by the way. Try explaining to a customer that the reason they didn't get, say, a $10.99 refund for a $10.99 item was because they didn't include enough in the first place. I walk them through simple math- the total for the items you did get was XX.XX, plus shipping of XX.XX, and a X.XX processing fee, which equals XX.XX. Subtract that from what you sent in, and it equals the amount we refunded. Then go over it at least three more times, because you cannot make them see. They will insist that the item that was sold out cost $10.99, and they want $10.99 back. I've even had them get out paper, made them write out the figures, do the math, and STILL tell me they don't understand.
Okay, I'm one of those spelling and punctuation purists too, but if I were the one asking about this refund, I would have been totally flumoxed by that answer. I'm still trying to figure it out.
__________________ Keep what is worth keeping
and with the breath of kindness
blow the rest away.
If you subtract the total of what you actually received from what you paid, you get your refund.
For example, you order 2 items at $14.99, one item at $10.99, and the shipping is $7.99, plus a processing fee of $1.25. The correct total would have been $50.21. You sent a payment of $45.21. The $10.99 item is sold out. Your refund is not going to be $10.99, regardless of that being the price of the sold out item. Your refund is going to be $5.99.
You don't get back more than you sent. If the NLA item had been in stock, you'd have had a balance due.
I used to think sherbet was the only way to spell until a proofreader corrected me.
I've actually done research on this topic for an undergrad Grammar course and the jury is still out on "sherbert" being a real word. Most grammarians reject it because it has only come into use because people can't stop saying it incorrectly. Many dictionaries refuse to print it as well.
One source said that it's only a word in America because Americans don't worry about correct use. LOL, I thought that was an appropriate thing to say! :p
It's actually discussed in the book The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations
I think the worst for me is when "Canceled" is spelled "Cancelled". Even on our system at work it is misspelled & it makes me crazy!!!!
I haven't read all the posts after yours and someone else might have pointed this out - both versions of "canceled/cancelled" are correct. One is the UK spelling and one is the US spelling. It is becoming more acceptable to interchange words of other countries since we're in a global economy. So, don't let that one continue to send you around the bend! LOL!
Actually, I happen to know a woman with a MASTER's degree in social work. Let's just say her spelling is so atrocious that she must have gotten through school thanks to the spell check in Word or paid an editor. Her posts on message boards make her sound uneducated and almost developmentally delayed.
She's actually quite brilliant when you talk TO her but written communication is not her forte.
I can think of several people I know who have dyslexia and have still got primary, and in some cases secondary, degrees, either with allowance made for their condition or an assistant. That could be the case with this woman, perhaps?
But the woman with her cheques (European spelling ), that's hard to get my mind around.
I know, I thought the same thing! I've seen that happen a few time here though, it must be a forum glitch.
ETA: now it appears I'm on the 4th page finally
I've read through this entire thread and chuckled in agreement with many of the opinions expressed in it. I, too, probably wouldn't buy a stamp set with incorrect grammar or spelling - although I have to confess I overlooked "Seasons Greetings" in one set I bought. That doesn't bother me much, though, because it's easy to add in an apostrophe.
As for grocery store signs having mistakes... Our local Walmart has signs on the fronts of the refrigerator doors where the milk is, so the customers can easily see which is the whole milk, which is skim, etc. and what the price is for each. One day several years ago I noticed a sign for "1% Low Rat Milk". I know that "R" and "F" are close to each other on a keyboard, but it amazed me that nobody noticed the error before putting up the sign. A store employee was nearby, so I caught her attention, pointed to the sign and said, "I certainly hope so!" She gave me a puzzled look, so I told her, "The sign says 'Low RAT', not 'Low Fat'." She studied the sign harder, then realized the mistake, laughed, and took down the sign.
Sadly, when the store updated their signs following a price change, the sign once again read "Low Rat".
