Apostrophe catastrophe, # 38

This is the online version of something that recently appeared in Dr Faustus’s inbox:

Link: London Review of Books, London Review Bookshop, ‘World Literature Series 2013—14’

it’s for its

Not Washed or Cooked, # 130

From The Sunday Times newspaper:

The Sunday Times, 20 April 2014, ‘Money’ section, p. 7

and online:

Link: The Sunday Times, ‘Money Made Easy’, 20 April 2014

self-empolyed

Double-take, # 65

Also spotted by Des Pond of Slough in Bourton-on-the-Water (the photograph was taken from outside the premises), this odd use of words:

refrain from taking any photography

Handritten, # 3

Spotted by Des Pond of Slough in Bourton-on-the-Water, a double mangle:

raisen; honeycombe

Correcting Mangles, # 2

The Bourton-on-the-Water Mangle-corrector (see yesterday’s post) had visited this café too:

is any problems

Correcting Mangles, # 1

Someone in Bourton-on-the-Water clearly couldn’t stand the erroneous apostrophes on this sign:

random possessive apostrophes

Not Washed or Cooked, # 129

Inadequate checking on a writing advice page:

Link: University of Washington, Political Science/JSIS/LSJ Writing Center, Tools for TAs and Instructors, ‘Tips for Writing Essay Exams’

evidenct

Not Washed or Cooked, # 128

John Holloway spotted this garage sign in Walton-on-the-Naze:

catalyts

Apostrophe catastrophe, # 37

An inscription on a bench at the excellent Coton Manor Garden:

Gods heart

Apostrophe catastrophe, # 36

This comes from a report of one of my favourite stories of the year so far, Oxford City Council’s refusal to issue a licence for the performance of a Passion Play on Good Friday, because someone mistook it for a sex show:

Link: The Times (subscription access only), ‘Not a Good Friday as “sex show” error cuts out Passion’

councils licensing officers

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 122

A couple of seasonal typographical mangles:

Link: Centennial Bible Church, Upcoming Events

‘Ester’, of course, is listed in spellcheckers, necessitating a further check by eye. Example 2 appears above a graphic; you’d have thought that, with so few words, someone might have noticed the mangle:

Link: Musings from the Foodie Friendship of Clemmensen & Brok, 16 April, 2014

Ester for Easter

Apostrophe catastrophe, # 35

Dr Faustus offers this mangle, in which an apostrophe catastrophe is accompanied by a shift in focus that results in a numerical disconnect between the subject noun and its pronoun in the final sentence:

Link: Flavorwire, ‘Required Reading: Modern Political Memoirs’, 23 August, 2010

it’s for its; the letters … it

Not Washed or Cooked, # 127

A recruitment email, edited slightly to protect both guilty (the sender) and innocent (the recipient):

It comes to us from Dr Faustus, who comments: ‘Councelling?!’ Perhaps candidates are expected to demonstrate their ‘Excellent Communication skills’ and ‘Good level of English’ by pointing out the error.

Councelling

Not Washed or Cooked, # 126

Dr Faustus has sent in this spelling-and-syntax mangle, clipped from an interview of Chris Mullin, but presumably the fault of the interviewer. The mangle comes in the final sentence; the preceding sentences are included for context:

Link: British GQ, ‘Chris Mullin speaks out’, 31 August 2010

consistuants; Whereas

The Wrong Word Entirely, # 41

Another mangled homophone:

Link: ‘Our Town For Teens’, Texas Department of State Health Services

Does it matter? Of course: ‘cite’ isn’t that common a word in everyday life, but no-one will find out what it means by looking ‘site’ up in the dictionary.

sited for cited

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 121

From the inbox of Dr Faustus, apparently evidence of a quota system:

There seems to be confusion over the year too…
ladies and gentleman

Double-take, # 64

I imagine there are further details that would provide sensible context for these clips:

Link: The Telegraph, ‘Healthy diet means 10 portions of fruit and vegetables per day, not five’

but they don’t appear in the report, which therefore offers the prospect of immortality, regardless of age, health, accident or incident, if only you can eat enough fruit and vegetables.

42 per cent less likely to die from any cause; the more fruit and vegetables you eat, the less likely you are to die at any age

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 120

Dr Faustus has been watching television, or at least he’s been consulting a television guide. This programme summary had successfully negotiated two apostrophes, but then it all went wrong…

4OD, Channel 4’s online On Demand service, varies the summary, but creates some new confusion:

Link: 4OD, Come Dine with Me, Series 30 Episode 124, ‘Woking and Weybridge: Sara’

Will Sara managed to exceed her guests low expectations? to host, for what

The Wrong Word Entirely, # 40

This extract comes from an article posted on a telecommunications company’s intranet. The key mangle — Cf. this mangle from last year — may be a misapprehension or a typographical error:

 free reign; practise for practice

Double-take, # 63

Source: BBC News for Android, and online at BBC News, ‘Xbox password flaw exposed by five-year-old boy’

It’s hard to tell from the journalist’s transcription whether this five-year-old boy said ‘Yeah!’ or ‘Yay!’, but he probably didn’t come out with the biblical ‘Yea’ … though you can expect him to be taking over the world sometime soon.

’I was like yea’

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 119

A disharmony of verb forms:

Link: The Telegraph, ‘When saving for 10 years pays more than saving for 40’

a saver who starts and stop

Double-take, # 62

A puzzle from my inbox:

No, Nectar, a comma is not the same as an infinitive ‘to’.
help us, help you

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 118

Dr the Homie Smith has flagged this mangle in a Guardian report:

Link: The Guardian, ‘Ketamine may help treat depression, UK study finds’, 3 April 2014

The good doctor comments: ‘Apparently K causes grammatical harm as well.’
has cause […] harm

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 117

Targeted at Year 12 schoolchildren:

Link: Wikispaces Classroom, ‘WW21 Total War’

WW21

Not Washed or Cooked, # 126

This has been in the stack since last October. The Guardian has since corrected the page by removing the whole sentence.

Link: Guardian, ‘London free school headteacher with no teaching qualifications quits’, 9 October 2013

embarasing; the the

Not Washed or Cooked, # 125

This comes from the same place as last Monday’s mangle:

Link: Cooklands, ‘Tea and Coffee’ menu

accsessories

Not Washed or Cooked, # 124

I’ve noticed that Timothy Spall, in a television advertisement voiceover, pronounces the company name ‘Wickes’ as disyllabic, by doubling the first vowel. I thought it must be a ploy to draw attention to the name; but perhaps he’s simply reading from a mangled script…

Source: Robin Allen, If You Can’t Stand the Heat (Woodbury, NM, Midnight Ink, 2012), p. 70. Link: Google Books

agaiinst

Not Washed or Cooked, # 123

Following on from yesterday’s introduction to DBA theatre [sic] by Just Liam, today’s mangles come from a page on the company’s ‘School Enrichment Programme’, where the ‘Secondary Enrichment Programme’ offers

These include:

Link: DBA theatre | School Enrichment Programme | School Enrichment Programme

Quite apart from the patchy punctuation and inconsistent presentation of possessives, a theatre company that cannot spell Artaud and Stanislavsky (or Stanislavski) does not inspire confidence.

Another page — The ‘SEN Enrichment Programme’ — cuts off the final sentence (‘We also offer workshops for days suc’) with a badly-positioned slide show.

It doesn’t take long to spellcheck, proofread and polish, but no-one’s done any of it here.

Artoud, Boals; Stanisklavsky; punctuation; apostrophe

Not Washed or Cooked, # 123

This is the first of a two-part mangle submitted by Just Liam and taken from the webpages of DBA (‘dream.believe.achieve’) theatre. Today’s clip comes from the information page of the theatre’s Owner and Creative Director, who ‘has been offered a place at Warwick University to complete a Masters in Drama and Theatre Education’:

Link: DBA theatre | Meet the Team | Olivia Medlock, Owner and Creative Director

experiance; colleauge

Double-take, # 61

Start here:

In case you’re wondering, Dune actually sells footwear. However, here’s a detail of the page that loads if you select ‘Dune Black Ladies’:

Link: Dune London | New In | Brands | Dune Black Ladies

It was not what I was expecting, and I fear I may be missing the point. Is white the new black? Is black the new black? Do you have to prove you’re black to buy from the range? How does ‘Dune Black Ladies’ differ from ‘Dune Ladies’?

More confusing still: one of the pairs (the white slingbacks above, labelled ‘Dune Black Slingback Espadrille Wedge’) also comes in blue…

white shoes in Dune Black Ladies