Monday, 16 June 2008
Electronic'S - R - US
This is a horror show of a sign.
It always irks me how "toysRus" turned a repugnantly illiterate phrase into a brand name, so I obviously hate to see it copied. When combined with apostrophe abuse, this causes my eyelid to twitch à la the captain from Police Academy.
I post this in the knowledge that fellow GrammarBlogger Tom (should we begin to employ GrammarBlog as a surname when referring to a member of our fraternity?) will be horrified at yet another unwise application of the Bank Gothic typeface.
Labels: apostrophe, apostrophe abuse, bank gothic, marketing copy, punctuation, signage, Typography
posted by Gez at 9:58 pm
7 Comments
Friday, 22 February 2008
Wet your appetite
I can't decide if this is a typo or a malapropism. Either way it's a shocker.
The correct word is of course 'whet'.
Labels: marketing copy, photos, spelling, typo, wrong word
posted by Gez at 1:22 pm
5 Comments
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Through and Thru
Is anyone else really sick of seeing the word 'Thru'? Of all the various inane marketing spellings it's the one that winds me up the most. I'm not sure why. Maybe ubiquity is a factor; it does seem to crop up everywhere.
The Grammar Vandal currently has a poll on her site asking visitors their opinion on when it is acceptable to use 'thru'.
I'm on team Never.
Related posts: Grammar abuse in signage: part 9
Labels: marketing copy, pet peeves, spelling, thru
posted by Gez at 2:57 pm
14 Comments
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
P-p-p pick up a punctuation guide
Izzy was less than impressed when she noticed an error on the wrapper of her P-p-p-penguin.
"What do Penguin's have for lunch?"
I was about to eat this scrummy-looking Penguin bar when I noticed that there was a mistake. The answer, by the way, is 'Iceburg-ers'. Needless to say, this Penguin bar is about to be sent back to the company with a complaint.In addition to the apostrophe abuse, the capital 'P' suggests that Penguin bars are coming to life and eating things.
Izzy did not specify whether the nature of her complaint would be regarding punctuation or pun quality. I hope she gives them hell on both counts.
Labels: apostrophe abuse, marketing copy, McVities, Packaging, Penguin, punctuation
posted by Gez at 11:25 am
0 Comments
Thursday, 3 January 2008
More or less?
Martin has been in touch by email to submit this wonderful example of a shop getting it completely wrong.
Martin writes,
Even a major national chain can get it wrong, the attached is in the window of the local W. H. Smith store.My maths isn't great but I know that buying something at more than half price isn't necessarily a good deal.
Labels: marketing copy, signage, wrong word
posted by Gez at 7:32 pm
2 Comments
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Ski's, boots and goggles
Ade is the name of the loyal grammar soldier who submitted this picture of a renegade apostrophe.
Ade writes:
I spotted thi's s'hocker the other day while I wa's on the tube:
Take a closer look at that second line of copy. Why is there no capital letter at the start of the sentence? They must have filled their capital quota with "Travel Insurance".
Labels: apostrophe abuse, marketing copy, photos
posted by Gez at 12:24 am
2 Comments
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Grammar abuse in signage - part 9
This one has everything.
Unnecessary quotation marks? Check.
Irritating marketing spelling (thru)? Check.
Apostrophe abuse? Check.
Unnecessary capitalisation? Check.
Spelling error? Check.
Heaven preserve us.
Labels: apostrophe abuse, foreign language spelling errors, marketing copy, photos, punctuation, quote me happy, randomised caps, signage, spelling, top ten
posted by Gez at 4:21 pm
160 Comments
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
Madrid: Rid Mad Commas Please,
Were only lefties allowed in? Does Arthur Scargill buy his slacks here?
So many questions.
Labels: comma, lefties, madrid, marketing copy, photos, punctuation, scargill
posted by Dan at 9:26 am
12 Comments
Saturday, 11 August 2007
A Positive Connection?
I hate it when instructions aren't clear. If a product manufacturer or a service provider has a limited number of words with which to instruct a customer, those words should be chosen carefully. Unlike this example from a London underground ticket machine.
...until you feel a positive connection.What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is it referring to an emotional or spiritual connection? How much does Ken Livingstone expect me to feel for his overcrowded, sweaty, inefficient transport system?
Labels: instructions, marketing copy, vague
posted by Gez at 11:57 am
1 Comments
Monday, 6 August 2007
OK film, crap punctuation.
British comedy at it's bestI watched this DVD at the weekend and my girlfriend spotted the rogue apostrophe on the cover (I was a little hungover or else I would have spotted it myself). I don't know whether to blame Now magazine for writing it or Fox entertainment for including it on the packaging of their DVD. Either way this was approved (assuming one editor at each company) by at least 4 people who write for a living.
So, to Now magazine and Fox, I'm sending you a warning: next time it's The List. Is that what you want? Because that's what'll happen.
The film was OK.
Labels: apostrophe abuse, marketing copy, photos, punctuation
posted by Gez at 10:49 pm
0 Comments
Soviet virgin lands short of goal again
I have a love/hate relationship with crappy ambiguous marketing copy. I love it because it's useful for duping the masses; I hate it because it's used for duping the masses. I love it when you read a snappy phrase that sounds great; I hate it because it doesn't mean anything. I love it because when it's done badly the results can be hilarious.
Take this list of ambiguous newspaper headlines for instance. My personal favourites are listed below.
Children's Stool Great for Use in Garden
Brings the rhubarb up a treat.
Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case
Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
What an image!
Reagan Wins On Budget, But More Lies Ahead
Police begin campaign to run down jaywalkers
Brutally ironic justice.
Prostitutes appeal to Pope
At least he's honest.
Panda mating fails; Veterinarian takes over
That's dedication.
Soviet virgin lands short of goal again
She's trying her hardest.
Enraged cow injures farmer with ax
Plane too close to ground, crash probe told
Stating the bleeding obvious.
Miners refuse to work after death
Union power gone mad.
Never withhold herpes infection from loved one
Nice.
Labels: funny, headlines, marketing copy, vague
posted by Gez at 1:21 pm
2 Comments
Friday, 6 July 2007
Warning: bad grammar may cause increased levels of honesty
Words are important. Words are powerful. Choose the wrong words and although you are trying to convey one particular meaning, you may inadvertently convey another.
This is especially true and damaging when considering a sales pitch. With a sales pitch you are trying to persuade people to part with money in exchange for something you are offering.
This doesn't just happen, the process guides the potential customer through a series of consecutive impulses from first contact through to sale. If you screw up when trying to engender any of these impulses through inaccuracy or stupidity, it's hard to get back on track.
The most important step (along with the close) is the first contact. Which brings me to my point, I found a very good example of why one should check website copy very carefully.
Website solutions should always be custom made for a client. Here at ICBusiness we listen to your requirements BEFORE trying to sell you something you do not need.How very honest. They'll listen to you - and then try to sell you something you don't need.
Can't fault them for trying.
Labels: funny, marketing copy, The List
posted by Gez at 11:50 am
3 Comments
Thursday, 17 May 2007
Single Breasted Womens Jackets
Single Breasted Womens JacketsAdmittedly, fashion marketing isn't my area of expertise but I wouldn't have thought there are enough single breasted women to create the demand for such an item. In addition there is a possessive apostrophe missing (grrrr).
Note: The plural of woman is "women". There is no plural of women so "womens" is never a word.
Technically, the header should have read:
Single-breasted, Women's JacketsI resisted the urge to suggest that it should be changed, partly because I don't want to appear anal and smug (unlike certain other GrammarBloggers) and partly because I suspected I would be overruled in the name of style.
The layout for this presentation was clean and uncluttered and the header would have admittedly lost some of its stylistic value if it had been interrupted with all that pesky punctuation.
So does that mean the laws of punctuation can be ignored in this case? Not under my hard-line dictatorship, that's for damn sure! Any arty types dropping apostrophes willy-nilly had better be prepared for the thumbscrews.
Leniency will be shown with regards to hyphens, they can be optional.
Labels: language, marketing copy, punctuation, Typography
posted by Gez at 3:35 pm
2 Comments
GrammarBlog has moved
We are now live at http://www.grammarblog.co.uk/
Contact us
If you want to tell us your pet peeves, send us examples of grammar abuse you have witnessed or even ask our advice on grammar matters, we'd love to hear from you. Email us on 
Subscribe and Share
Previous Posts
Archives
Friends
- 1000 Tiny Things I Hate
- AA Gill's Times Column
- Apostrophe Abuse
- SPOGG
- Stephen Fry's blog
- The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks
- Mighty Red Pen
- lowercase L
- Literally a web log
- Elisabeth Writes
- Never in all my life
- The Engine Room
- I Love Typography
- spEak You’re bRanes
- Passive Aggressive Notes
- T.E.A.L.
Enemies (aka The List)
Reading List
It's not just you
