Yesterday, a headline in a prominent newspaper boldly proclaimed that the Saudi king was handing over the reigns while he was in the U.S. for treatment.
Since a king only has one reign, and he holds it whether he’s in the U.S. or not, I thought at first maybe the writer was joking. But the straightforward lead told me that it was a simple case of substituting the wrong word for reins, those narrow straps used to guide a horse, or in this case, a country. While the homonym (a word pronounced alike but spelled differently) made the print edition, someone made the change in the online version, turning “hands over reigns” into “leaves for medical tests.”
A lot of errors like this seem to be slipping through these days, so this seems a timely reminder to be careful out there, people. It’s easy enough to make a mistake, especially if you are writing in a hurry. But if you don’t have what now seems to be a luxury, a proofreader, set aside your work for a time and come back to it. Read it carefully.
Here are some others I’ve collected recently from newspapers, magazines and even textbooks:
- An Opera-of-style (I think it meant Oprah-style)
- Try it with disgression (discretion)
- Soon the gentile style is explained (genteel)
- Cumberbund dress (cummerbund)
- Where the law takes president over (precedence)
- Fait de complet (fait accompli)
- Spend hours pouring through magazines (poring)
- I wanted to chyme in (chime)
- The sign bares the message (bears)
- Wide whale corduroy (wale)
- Was in the throws of remarkable growth (throes)
And you can bet I proofread this post carefully!
LOL. I’ll BET you proofed it carefully!
Sue, I’m with you on this one. Every day, in newspapers, magazines, Web sites (of course), advertising, etc., I see these errors. This morning at the gym, I was greeted with a sign promoting a program that is run on Friday’s (WITH AN APOSTROPHE). Honestly, I think organizations have fired the proofreaders and are relying on dumb luck.
I agree, Donna – the organizations seem to have fired the proofreaders (or should it be, the organization’s have fired the proofreader’s? 😉 ). Sadly, they are relying on people knowing how to spell, and that’s clearly a mistake!
I’ve seen a lot of similar mistakes being published recently too. Like everyone, I make spelling and grammar mistakes, but when you see them in print you have to wonder about the quality of a publication that lets them through.
There are a number of reasons I see for this:
1. A lack of ability when it comes to spelling and grammar. Schools don’t seem to concentrate on these simple lessons any more and other skills take precedence (as opposed to presidents);-)
2. I believe the email/text generation are less concerned about spelling and grammar and take less care over it.
3. Money probably plays a part – businesses don’t have the extra cash to spend on qualified proof readers.
4. I wonder whether people/news reporters often use dictation software or audio transcribers that don’t always pick up the true meaning of what has been said?
I know poor spelling and grammar doesn’t bother everyone, in fact I have been told I’m a little anal about it. However, anything that is being printed and sold should show due care and attention. Those who don’t care about spelling and grammar will not notice one way or the other, but those of us who do care will make judgements based on what we read.
Thanks for a great post.
Lisa
Lisa, thanks for commenting! And I agree with all of your reasons. I have had spirited discussions with editors and writers over picky spelling or grammar questions that we all admit won’t be noticed one way or the other by the readers of the publication. But when mistakes make it into print, it does leave an impression about the quality, as you say. Nitpickers, unite!
Good examples Sue. What worries me is that so many folks don’t seem worried about the trend towards screwing up the language. I think it’s a slippery slope but others think of it as just something else that technology will have to save us from. They expect their spell-check programs to improve so they don’t have to worry about that. Of course, over time, they’ll forget what proper spelling is anyway, so they’ll just accept whatever word ends up on the screen, or paper, or wherever.
What I’ve noticed lately is how many silly things are coming through in emails, now that people are depending on predictive text programs to fill in their words for them on an iPhone or Blackberry. Once again, a minute or two reading the message before hitting send would go a long way towards improving things. But that’s just me – and probably further proof that I’m an old fuddy duddy. (Or faddy duddy, as my iPad predictive text program just suggested….sigh)
Oh, good one, Dave! Put me down as a faddy duddy too then.