Two, Two, Two Blogs in One

I recently started reading a great blog about cake wrecks. Believe it or not, there are enough disasters in cake decorating to fill a whole blog and then some. Some are errors in spelling, or the decorator had trouble following directions, and others are just plain scary. But I started reading it and now I can't stop.

So when my daughter (the one who led me to cake wrecks) was home over the weekend and we headed out to the store, she said we had to check out the cake department to look for wrecks. I was hot on her heels, all excited to see what we might find.

We found a scary cake alright - I sent that in to the cake wreck blog. But even better was when I was sending a photo of the sign that went along with the cake. Suddenly errant apostrophes appeared! Double score! I swear I hadn't noticed them when I was in the store.

The cake, by the way, looked like a pile of frosting blobs in black and white, with HUGE pop-eyes. Kid friendly? More like kid nightmare. Oh, all right - here's a picture:

I Thought Publishers Still Used Editors

So, if the newspapers have fired all of their editors, I thought at least the book publishers would still retain a few. After all - if you buy a manuscript, spend tons of money printing it and publicizing it, wouldn't you want it to be perfect?

Writers write. They rely on editors to edit.

I fear that all too soon we'll be reading books written in text-speak. Aauugghh!

cn u imgne tht????? it wud be rly bad!!!!!!!! like OMG!!! roflmao!!!!!!!!

So I was reading a book from a very well known publisher recently, and this error jumped out at me (I swear, it literally jumped off of the page and bit me - still have the marks):

...scrape off the old gasket, put on a new gasket with sealant, put the head back on. We had already taken off the cylinder head and I had scrapped off the old gasket after getting home from school.

Oh the agony! How did they miss that?

I fear that my escape into books will have to rely on ones published before word processors. I guess I'd be safe with the works of Homer and Plato. Wonder if any they wrote any chick lit?

More Whopping - And We're Not Talking Burger King Here

I got this one from my son who is currently studying in Prague, but finds time to stay in touch with the world via the internet.
He was on espn.com and found this gem in a story about the Daytona 500:

When Earnhardt was told of Vickers comments, he radioed to his spotter T.J. Majors to tell Vickers' spotter to deliver the message that if there was an issue, the racers could discuss it in the motor coach lot following the race.
"If he wants to come by the bus after the race and get his ass whopped," Earnhardt said. "I'll do it."

So, how is it that there is an epidemic of whopping and whopping cough? Or is getting whopped a result of whopping cough? I'm whooped from trying to figure out how professional (haha) writers keep getting this wrong.

I wasn't able to find the original story, so I'm not sure if there was really a period after 'Earnhardt said'. Maybe the writer was in a huge hurry to get the story published. Still no excuse.

If The Schools Are Wrong, What Hope Is There?

This is from a high school dive meet last weekend. A local high school was in charge of running the meet, providing concessions, tee-shirts, etc. I feel that if an event is in any way connected to the schools, it's that much more important to get it right. I realize that this was just a small sign, and all they wanted to do was to sell chicken sandwiches, but when you get the language wrong, it conveys the wrong message to the people who see it.

In a related incident that involved the school system, I once received a letter from the high school. It was promoting a discounted fee for a course promising higher SAT scores for those who took the class. This letter was on school system letterhead, and, if I remember correctly, it was signed by the superintendent of schools.

They spelled the name of the school system incorrectly.

Twice.

THAT, my friends, is not acceptable.

Where Bears Barely Wear Clothes

This photo comes courtesy of Lauren, who lives in Alabama. She promises many more examples to come.

This sign is from a clothing resale store. No bears are involved.

Now, if this sign were from the local zoo, or it was an adjunct to the ever popular Build-A-Bear chain, it might be a cute play on words.

But it's not. It's just another case of someone not caring enough to check their spelling.

At least she got the apostrophe correct.

Tired of Being RIPED Off?

Received a spam email at the office today. Here is what it looked like:

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009

1:50 PM

Subject: have you been riped off

file a rebuttal to explain your side of the story or do not let them getaway with this, you can also post who riped you off. go to

I only changed the color of the text (red), and deleted contact information.
I'm so glad that I haven't been riped off recently. Otherwise I'd be obligated to contact this spammer for help. That's a scary thought!

A Liberal Sprinkling of Apostrophes, Please

Saw this menu a while back, before this blog existed. So I just happened (cough cough) to be there the other night and also just happened to have my camera with me.

You'll have to click on the image to see a larger version with all of the apostrophes.

I'm not sure how the menu creator interpreted the rule of apostrophe use. Maybe they weren't sure, so they just threw some random apostrophes in wherever it looked good? There doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason their use.

I guess it could have been worse.

Um - no.

Please Decipher And Get Back To Me

If anyone knows what this sign is trying to tell us, please let me know.

I hope it makes sense to those it is intended for.

Of course, the obvious is the added quotation marks, which are completely unnecessary.

Funny thing is, I don't mind the use of the abbreviated word 'thru'.

But the rest of it is a plain mess.

Thanks again to Kristilyn.

Not "Just" Another Menu Selection

Not a clear photo, but you get the picture (pun intended). This is from a menu courtesy of Desi - thanks Desi!

Desi told me about a great comeback yesterday. When someone says that they're done, she says, "People aren't done! Turkeys are done! You are finished!" Haha! I love that line!

How is it that quotation marks have gained so much popularity recently? Do people think that if they add some quotation marks, it will look professional? Hardly.

Grammar Isn't Important If You Can Draw

This sign has been torturing Kristilyn for weeks as she waits in a bus stop. Maybe posting it here will help her deal with it!

Looking for any one - not a specific one, apparently - who can draw. And possibly proof read? So many mistakes here. Let me see:

1. The first sentence is poorly constructed. I'm not sure there is punctuation that will help it, if it is written as it is.

2. Any one = anyone.

3. The capital I in the word 'if' is a word processing error. MS Word will always capitalize the first word in a line of centered text after a return. I hate that. It is up to the writer to fix the error. If they care. Which they didn't.

Anything else that I missed?