Is it just me, or are errors in the printed word slipping through more than ever? I’m not talking about abbreviations in Twitter or texting, I mean words that sort of sound like they make sense, but are slightly to a long way off the mark. Here are some of the recent transgressions — culled from prominent newspapers, ads and even textbooks — along with my periodic reminder to be careful out there, people:
- “fabulous wines to suit every palette” (palate)
- “if you do either of these 3 things” (either is a choice between two things)
- “your priority list has been widdled down” (whittled)
- “girls had their pales and shovels” (pails)
- “really run the gambit” (gamut)
- “viewed against the black cloth” (backdrop)
- and my favourite, “the church has space to teach cataclysm” (catechism).
Are there no proofreaders any more? Are they missing in action, or are they so overloaded that they can’t keep up?
Not only do I like, this, I really like this. Their are so many things about your post that sign to me, as I see many of them everyday however don’t you think you mite be being a bit hard on others!!!
Hahaha! Your so funny…
I blame the auto-correct function on mobile devices (iOS in particular). I increasingly use my iPad for writing and have had many “backdrop” / “black cloth” experiences. Auto-correct is useful enough that I haven’t disabled it yet, but it does make careful proofreading increasingly important.
Amy, I agree that auto-correct can cause some of the errors, and maybe the writer just didn’t notice them. We’re human, and make mistakes! I just find it so surprising when obvious errors make it into a print publication that should have people to catch them.
…and you know, I’ve always kinda wanted to widdle down a priority list. Can’t hurt.
Good one, Sue!