It’s curtains for typos
Somerville, MA
You are familiar, I’m sure, with the popular aphorism that typo correction begins in the home. With that in mind, I went into my bathroom this afternoon, intending my first eradications to beautify my shower curtain. It is a singular model, festooned with mathematic principles, and I count it the sole reason that I was able to do so well on the math portion of the GRE last year after several years of virtual inactivity in the sphere of numbers and their relations. Every morning I would sit on the john and gaze at the formula for calculating the volume of a cylinder, or the fine distinction between a mean and a median. However, eventually I became aware of two ugly blots in that otherwise unblemished tapestry of knowledge. I present them here… be warned these images are not suitable for all audiences.
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| From 03-02-08 Somerville MA |
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| From 03-02-08 Somerville MA |
Today, I’d start my campaign of typo eradication on a very personal note. Today, I’d rid my own bathroom of typos. A few dabs of white-out and some careful marker work yielded the following results:
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| From 03-02-08 Somerville MA |
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| From 03-02-08 Somerville MA |
Victory most supreme! I stood there with the power of orthographic righteousness coursing through my once-sluggish veins, and I knew, as I know now, cherished readers, that thus shall be delivered the grace of TEAL across this tremendous nation. Tomorrow and Tuesday I shall venture out into Somerville and Boston at large to stamp out what base errors I can find (and frantically finish packing). Then on Wednesday, TEAL hits the road for serious. We will course down the east coast, through the dark barony of Connecticut. Our first stop will be in the city that invariably considers itself the greatest city in the world, that metropolis of metropoli, that churning, glittering sea of self-absorbed humanity– oh yes, we loves you, New York City!
‘Til then, we have some unfinished business in Massachusetts, you and I. Let us illumine the crooked streets and gloomy alleys with the incandescence of proper spelling. And we will depart as heroes!
Totals
Typos Found: 1
Typos Corrected: 1
March 6th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
How about “total number of outcomes ” and “less than 90 degrees” and “more than 90 degrees?” Pass?
March 29th, 2008 at 6:38 am
How about Arlington’s Capri Pizza on Mass Ave in the Heights? There is a sign that says “Formally Charlies Pizza”, instead of Formerly.
March 29th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I just read the article in the Globe. I love this idea!
Several years ago on a Sunday (the days when MA residents were prohibited from purchasing alcohol on Sundays), my husband and I drove to NH to a state liquor store (just over the boarder) to get some wine. I began searching for a great bottle and quickly noticed the sign hanging from the ceiling that read - “Portugese Wines.” I couldn’t help myself and shared the error with the worker. “But sir, the offensive missing U,” I explained. I, too, was given the dreaded shoulder shrug.
Bravo to you!
March 29th, 2008 at 9:24 am
I really like your idea. The other day in The Boston Globe there was a headline in the business section: “Here’s a few tips on how to protect yourself from a myriad of fees levied by banks”. I called but the woman I spoke with couldn’t help. I just read your blog entry about Filene’s Basement. In case you want to correct your blog, it’s Boylston Street not Avenue.
March 29th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Sorry Marcia, but the liquor store in NH was just over the ‘border’. I remember during the days I spent trucking that an outfit from Texas that operated in the lower, contiguous 48, emblazoned their trailers with the name ‘Boarder to Boarder’. I guess they specialized in serving temporary residents.
Robin, is there a chance that you could have been at what used to be “Charlie’s”?
We language mavens need to be very careful in our missives to a site like this!
March 29th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
My favorite word misuse is printed on an official sign just east of the intersection of Memorial Drive and Western Ave (on right side of Mem Drive). On a standard issue white sign with red lettering, one reads
“Yield to Pedestrians in Crossword.” I stopped at the light and went by that sign for who knows how long before I saw that. I wonder how many others have noticed. Someone (well, probably more than one) was sleeping when that was made, and carted, and installed.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
We could all sit here and nitpick until the cows come home. Rich, in your correction, you wrote “Sorry Marcia, but the liquor store in NH was just over the ‘border’. ” Conventionally, periods should be inside the quotation mark (American usage).
April 19th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I live in Lynn and see a certain car at least once a week with stickers across the rear window proclaiming it to be “SIN CITIES FINEST”. The owner of this car lives right near a high school (apparently, one where the possessive tense is not taught). If I thought I could take a photo and not get shot, I’d get right on that.
Also, my husband works near a taco shop in Chelsea that we affectionately call “the possessive burrito” thanks to a misplaced apostrophe on the sign. Ah, Massachusetts – home of champions and people with a serious lack of grammar understanding.
Keep up the good work!
April 20th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Dude, it’s okay with you that the curtain says, “less than 90 degrees” rather than “fewer than 90 degrees”? I’m dying over here.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
SarahJ, can’t degrees be a continuous number? If not, we can’t make the very accurate measurements of angle that we need in today’s high precision society.
June 27th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I really wish you had made your way to the CVS near me. There is a sign which correctly reads: You have the right to know about your medication and its effects.
Someone took it upon themselves to add an apostrophe, thus creating “it’s”. Detail-oriented, yes. Correct, no.