Saturday, December 27, 2008

Grammar lesson: Bad usage

I am a stickler for grammar. I hate it when i post something online and later notice that I made some error in spelling or usage. Ugh. It pains me.
My wife taught me about the correct usage of an apostrophe and a surname when I was copywriting for our Christmas cards. Better "The Smiths", than "The Smith's". http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Apostrophes

But when other people do it... Ah, now that's a different story.
I HATE the misuse of the homonyms "there, their and they're".
I ABHOR the switch of the indefinite possessive and plurals "its and it's".
I REJECT the incorrect spelling of "your and you're".

Occasionally I find it mildly entertaining. Anytime I get an announcement email from a sales person in my company, i comb it for errors. It's the sort of thing that passes the day, and bonds a few of us "QA-types" together. There are a few of us that race to get through it first, to see who finds the most errors. Good sport, I think.

I got an email today from a co-worker who fell for the old trick of "typing it like it sounds". Here is the sentence:

We've had some challenges with the security codes recently. One of the boards is going bad and it's reeking havoc for other depts as well.
Reeking havoc! Ha! Okay, for those of you playing at home, it should have been "wreaking havoc."

Send me some of your finds, would 'ya?

1 comment:

BrakTalk said...

When I was working in child support enforcement, I got a gem of a letter with the following sentence:

"Let me fresh your member."

If I had to guess, I'm sure he meant, "Let me refresh your memory."

Another similar funny was an answer on a questionnaire:

Length of Employment: "Across town."

Classic stuff.