Double-take, # 244

It isn’t clear whether the mangle in this breadcrumb, leading to a report whose headline uses the correct word, is typographical or grammatical, but its first word is definitely not a noun:

Link: Hereford Times, ‘Hereford Teenager Jailed for Online Sex Offences’

Teenage jailed

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 230

Is this mangle a slip or an eggcorn? It comes from an item entirely based on an examination of posts on social media, a cheap, lazy and unsatisfactory method of ‘reporting’ that has now become ubiquitous:

Link: The Express, ‘Paxman Praised for Shining Light on REAL EU but Europhiles Complain of “BBC BIAS”’

bias for biassed/biased

Right word, wrong form, # 5

The wrong adjective on this root is used here to describe participants in a recent promotional email, which thus ends up accidentally insulting the other booksellers who use the Abebooks portal:

select for selected

Multimangle, # 33

Received by a surprised Dr Faustus, who barely knows where to start (mangle-wise, that is), but is especially taken by the use of apostrophes, which certainly does ‘look unusual for’ him…

O’k; embroider for embroidery; It may look unusual foryou; I live in a small city. but I would like to see the world; I love to walk around the pair; foto; Now, I’m end

Not Washed or Cooked, # 280

Today’s mangle (actually two, plus the slew of exclamation marks) has been waiting in the archive folder for a suitable time:

Link: Our Lady of Victory Catholic School, Chicago, Mrs Kumala’s Preschool Class blog

Chritmsas; everyday for every day

Double-take, # 152

This appeared in my inbox last week:

a render; Seniour

The Wrong Word Entirely, # 78

This error, found by Dr Faustus, comes from an online article written by a self-declared ‘dyslexic’ journalist, who is a graduate of the Teeline shorthand method. Laudable though her efforts are and encouraging as she is as a model for other students, whether or nor dyslectic, it remains a fact that writers — including, and in some cases especially, journalists — need to communicate their message clearly and accurately, which means using the correct words. While corrections and advice should be offered with care and sensitivity, it is not polite, kind or helpful to let people use words incorrectly, especially if their work takes them into the public forum where their errors are likely to reflect badly upon their abilities:

Link: Journalism.co.uk, ‘A guide to mastering 100wpm shorthand’

illicit for elicit; dyslexic

Right word, wrong form, # 4

This mangle can be found on an Australian video available on Facebook:

Link: Facebook, Sea FM Hobart, ‘Depressed goat […]’

Mangle aside, the film tells a heart-warming story; it’s worth watching if you like goats, donkeys, animals-in-general, stories-with-happy-endings or some combination of the above.

laid for lay

Right word, wrong form, # 3

Someone at The Huffington Post needs to revise irregular verbs:

Link: The Huffington Post UK, ‘Iain Duncan Smith Knows He Is A “Hate Figure”’

For reference, Reverso is a useful online source for checking the correct conjugation of verbs in several languages, including English.

casted doubt

Multimangle, # 6

Ross McGregor found this sign in a branch of Tesco:

Due to Chillers Break down stock in these chillers are not suitable for use any more and is removed. We are trying to get this problem fix as soon as possible and are really sorry for any incontinence caused. Management

Not Washed or Cooked, # 151

Some lovely spelling from the Student Counselling Centre of Leeds University:

Link: University of Leeds, Student Counselling Centre, ‘Self Help Resources’

wich for which; practice for practise; split infinitive

Right word, wrong form, # 2

Link: The University of Iowa Info Center [sic], ‘Creating a “White List” in Eudora — Article 2746’

It seems strange that a different method needs to be found then… Did the writer mean ‘daunting’? undaunting for daunting

Right word, wrong form, # 1

This mangle comes from an email sent by the Civil Service Motoring Association (CSMA):

Collins English Dictionary is unambiguous about the correct form of the past participle of whet:

Link: Collins English Dictionary, ‘whetted’

The entry for ‘whet’ in the online Oxford Dictionaries is identical for British and US usage:

Link: Oxford Dictionaries, US English Dictionary, ‘whet’; British & World English Dictionary, ‘whet’