Just received payment from one of my clients and here’s what my check had on it:

Just thought I’d share!

The week before we left on vacation, my sister-in-law gave me this printout from a communication that went out at the company where she works. This memo went out to everyone in their corporation. Yes, it’s a VERY large company and there were probably thousands of folks who read this piece. Interestingly enough, the communication was quickly deleted from their system – but not before my sister-in-law printed it out. Thanks Tina! And no, I won’t divulge the name of the company. For those of you who would like to know who it was that made this big-time foul up, I apologize for the incontin…er wait, inconvenience.

This picture is a little closer in case you aren’t able to read the first one.

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated my site. I apologize. I have been busy, it was summer, and time just got away from me.

Anyhow, I just came across this sign (thanks to a tweet that scrolled down one of my Tweetdeck columns) and I couldn’t pass up posting it here. It’s a great addition to my quirky collection of Bad Signs.

And, with this post I hope to be able to start updating my site a bit more regularly.

Here’s a link to the original source of the picture. There’s a short article that goes into some detail about how this sign was able to be publicly (or should I say pubicly?) displayed with such an egregious error. Enjoy…

I enjoy fishing. Since moving to Idaho, I have been able to do a great deal more fishing. I find it a great way to relax, enjoy God’s beautiful creation, and enjoy the good company of my brother, friends, and my family. I always look forward to spring and the anticipation that builds in getting back out onto the water and casting my line.

Last week, I was given the Outdoor section of the Coeur d’Alene Press by my brother who encouraged me to read the article, “Spring is in the air.” I started reading with enthusiasm, hoping to find some great information related to the upcoming fishing season. However, I was greeted by a very poorly written article. Within the span of four paragraphs, their article contained three terrible mistakes.

It really irks me to see this happen. It’s irritating on two fronts. First of all, three completely incorrect words were used: “still leader, trouble hooks” and “a big husky.” What’s wrong? Well, the words that should have been used are “steel leader, treble hooks” and “a big musky.” Obviously the writer of the article doesn’t have a clue about fishing-especially local fishing, which is the second way that it annoys me. It’s fine that the writer doesn’t have direct fishing experience. However, what is NOT okay is the fact that the writer doesn’t care enough about the article or their readers to do proper research on the correct terminology.

I would expect our local newspaper to at least cover the local news correctly. Fishing isn’t just a minor sport around our parts. Fishing is a major activity and the paper should realize this and make sure that their articles are correct. Secondly, the proofreading process at the CDA Press is seriously flawed. Who’s checking their articles? Anyone?

“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.

This past Saturday I received a letter from a prominent university in Spokane, WA. The letter, on official university letterhead, detailed a piano sale from their music department. The letter was fine…until the very last sentence. At that point, they blew it.

Credit cads? Sigh…

This is the problem with relying on a spellchecker. The word ‘cads’ isn’t misspelled, so it didn’t get a squiggly red line placed under it to notify the writer of a potential problem. The problem lies in the fact that ‘cads’ is simply the incorrect word to use in that sentence (it should be CARDS).

So, please, please don’t just trust your spellchecker! I imagine this letter was mailed out to thousands of people in our area. I’m sure one of the journalism or English majors at the university would have done an excellent job of proofreading this letter and rectified this embarrassing mistake if they would have been given the opportunity.

Just food for thought…