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