I realize it’s just a little sign for a basketball tournament. But, is it really unreasonable to expect a sign that is hung within a school to contain the correct spelling of such an important word? I certainly don’t advocate reliance upon word processor program spell checkers, but at least they will alert you that you have misspelled the word ‘sportsmanship’!

Of course there is also the issue of the period, the use of the word so, and the second sentence.

I saw this on Facebook this morning and I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to use it. I think the best thing to do is just let it speak for itself:

Definition of Faux Pas:

(fō pä’)

A social blunder.
[French : faux, false + pas, step.]

Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faux pas (accessed: February 24, 2010).

Yep, it definitely qualifies as a faux pas. Enjoy…

“So tired of rich people forking over $6k to cry at #TED for 3 days a year. Their so moved but their just their to do business networking.”

This was actually tweeted on Sunday by someone who has almost 95,000 people that follow their updates on Twitter. Unbelievable! He’s zero for three in using the correct word in the same sentence. Obviously this guy doesn’t like TED (www.TED.com). However, while trying to bash/scorn TED members, he has made himself look ridiculous in the process.

So, in keeping with the short and sweet theme that I started in my “Lose and Loose” post, here’s a simple way to keep yourself out of the “I’m attempting to be cool with my tweet, but in reality I just made myself look really stupid” club:

Their – possessive case of they. Their time. Their organization. Their money to spend on the TED conference if they so desire.

They’re – a CONTRACTION which means They are. They’re going to the TED conference and will spend some of their money.

There – a place. Not here, but there. They are going there for the TED conference where they’re probably going to spend some of their money.

Here’s how his tweet should have looked: “So tired of rich people forking over $6k to cry at #TED for 3 days a year. They’re so moved but they’re just there to do business networking.”

I understand that we all make mistakes and really, I’m okay with it. However, if you’re going to fire off a tweet dripping with a little venom like this one and you know it is going to be read by tens of thousands of people, it would probably be a good idea to double check what you’ve written before you hit the ‘Update’ button.