The Apostrophe Strikes Again!
I had alluded to the need to capture this picture in a previous post. Thanks to my sister-in-law, I now have a picture of this mistake (thanks Tina!).
Rabbit Trail: Why did Tina have the opportunity to get this picture for me? Unfortunately, she had to go to this grocery store to request a refund for a bag of coffee. Yes, it was this company’s coffee. Tina grinds her own coffee at home. Upon reaching the last bit of coffee beans at the bottom of the bag, she discovered a roasted bug mixed in with her beans. Gross! The question I had was, “I wonder if there was more than one bug” followed by, “Hey, where’s the bug’s head and legs…were they roasted off, or did they get mixed into the bag somewhere else?” At that point, I stopped asking questions. I was also relieved to recall that I had not consumed any coffee over at their house recently, haha. Needless to say, the coffee bean bug was a major turn off. Thankfully, the grocery store refunded her money without any difficulty.
So, back to the picture. Have you caught the mistake? Charity’s should be charities (the correct plural spelling). The apostrophe is a killer for many, many people. Unfortunately, this is a common mistake. Even more unfortunate is that this mistake made it out into the public arena (multiple supermarkets and their own website). Perhaps I should contact them and offer my services? 
July 28th, 2008 at 11:40 am
It amazes me that a proof reader didn’t catch that mistake. I see that kind of thing happen occasionally. “Alot” and “alright” are two other mistakes that people should know better than to make. Thanks a lot for the bug in the coffee visual. I’ll be thinking about that next time I make coffee. I’ve got one that tops that though. When I was younger, my mom opened a can of greens. Inside was a gigantic grasshopper, intact. This had to be a bug from a foreign country because they don’t get nearly that large here. There was probably more bug than greens in the can. So gross!
January 20th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
It’s fixed now (or should I say “know”).
Thanks Ken.