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| Source: The Telegraph for smart devices, ‘How the European dream is dying, state by state’ |
Businesses that don't bother checking their websites, journalists who write gibberish and balderdash, professionals who can't take the extra time and effort to spell-check and proofread, newspapers that turn tragedy into farce through solecisms, plus the odd guide to solving common grammatical difficulties… Contributions and suggestions welcome. (… Also corrections if required, obviously!) Send to: manglingenglishATgmxDOTcom, stating your nom de mangle (if desired).
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Not Washed or Cooked, # 211
An excellent find by Dr Faustus, especially as the online version has been corrected:
Euroscpetiticism
Wednesday, 11 March 2015
The Wrong Word Entirely, # 74
Not the first time this mangle has featured on the blog, but the first time it has come from an educational source. Well spotted, Dr Faustus!
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| Source: Brighton Journalist Works, ‘Fast-track NCTJ Diploma in Journalism’ prospectus, p. 9 |
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| Link: online pdf |
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 169
From the inbox of Dr Faustus, who comments: ‘I’m pretty sure Imelda Staunton would be horrified to see her name mangled thus!’ Indeed, it is a major mangle to inflict on a famous actress. Perhaps her next Ethel Merman revival role should be Call Me Madam…
To be fair, LondonTheatreDirect.com have managed to spell the name correctly online.
Stanton for Staunton
Monday, 9 March 2015
Not Washed or Cooked, # 210
Dr Faustus has been sending his backlog in. This is from a webpage on the English language:
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| Link: Vox, ‘25 Maps that Explain the English Language’, ‘6: The Great Vowel Shift’ |
Sunday, 8 March 2015
Saturday, 7 March 2015
Double-take, # 138
Not necessarily a mangle, but surely either erroneous or pointless?
Maybe the reduction was worthwhile, though: it’s sold out.
RRP: £34.99 Price: £34.95 You Save: £0.04
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| Link: Amazon.co.uk, ‘Doctor Who Remote Controlled Inflatable Dalek’ |
Maybe the reduction was worthwhile, though: it’s sold out.
RRP: £34.99 Price: £34.95 You Save: £0.04
Friday, 6 March 2015
Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 168
A small omission:
missing of [full cost student loans]
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| Link: The Telegraph, ‘Student loans are tough to clear — even when you've got the cash’ |
Thursday, 5 March 2015
Not Washed or Cooked, # 209
Another mangled headline from The Independent:
As so often happens, this mangle quickly ran round the digital world:
amaznig
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| Link: The Independent, ‘World’s largest plane graveyard […]’ |
As so often happens, this mangle quickly ran round the digital world:
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| Link: Google, search for "amaznig interactive map" |
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
The Wrong Word Entirely, # 73
John Holloway comments: ‘The beer and wine at the Bolingbroke (Swindon) are so polite!’
The substitute of compliment for complement is not the only confusion. The final remark should either be connected to the previous one (precisely as in the earlier coda, ‘all freshly prepared’) or supplied with an active verb (‘is’?) so it can stand as a complete sentence. Punctuation is a problem: the comma after ‘includes’ is superfluous, and would be better placed after ‘sauce’ since, as it stands, the last offering in the list seems to be an unusual surf-and-turf dish.
complimented for complemented
Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 167
Monday, 2 March 2015
Sunday, 1 March 2015
Double-take, # 74
This Guardian writer is horrified by implicit gender stereotyping in some primary school homework. It’s a fair concern; but the hideous confusion of pronouns seems a greater problem than the font face. Surely politically-correct grammar only has any claim to validity if it’s consistent?
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| Link: The Guardian, ‘Young children must be protected from ingrained gender stereotypes’ |
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