Thursday, 28 February 2013

Either

'Either' seems to be such a stumbling block for people. This sentence would be okay if it were written thus: '...is particularly appealing either to her or for the party.' That is, the 'either' should be placed before the first preposition, otherwise it cannot encompass the second, if that makes any sense:

Maralinga Dreaming

Maybe it's just me but these two statements seem mutually contradictory:


Surround Sound Around

I suppose I'm only adding to the negativity surrounding around artists by pointing out that 'surrounding around' doesn't make sense:

She Said, He Said

What does 'to go to' mean? What does 'it season starts' mean?

Spellcheck Goes Missing

It just seems so odd in this day and age to misspell something in an editorial, but surely 'venomous' only has one 'e':


Unwise

It does seem to me that, when choosing a web name, it's always wise to avoid the word 'fart' forming in the readers' minds:
If they'd just changed the word order - www.ArtisanalFoodSchool.org, perhaps - it would have freed that hidden fart.

Saturday, 9 February 2013

If Only I Had a Sick Fledging

It's good to know there's someone out there who could help me, though, should I ever need that kind of assistance:






I Wonder Who the Letter Was From

Possibly the gas company:


Those Two Are Special

You like your grandchildren, of course, but there's no doubt about it - grandkids top the bill:


The Third Person Is a Ghost Presumably



It's Actually Very Hard to See What's Wrong with This

Nonetheless, it is the job of those who put together a newspaper to ensure that someone does notice the error and remove it before the paying readers get hold of it:





In the Year Twenty Two Twenty Two

Or something like that:


Australia Is Another Land of Migration

But it is also a land where even the people who write the newspapers don't know the difference between a singular and a plural:


I Use My Hands for Waving

The ALP uses membership rules:


I'm Glad My Mother Wasn't a Nudist

The Australian Women's Weekly reveals that Helen Mirren's mother wore nothing but scent - I'm even more impressed by what a level-headed creature Mirren junior appears to have grown up to be:

Help with The Mortgage

I suppose at least you could be certain of a steady income stream:


If They Can't Spell, God Help The Rest of Us

Lawyers are supposed to be cleverer than the rest of us, aren't they?


Saturday, 26 January 2013

Nixon's Cellulite

Thank you to George for pointing me in the very disgusting direction of an image of Richard Nixon wrapped in cling-film in a desperate bid to lose a few inches off his rear:




Thursday, 17 January 2013

Now I Understand

I thought Victoria's Premier, Mr Baillieu, was unpopular for doing too little, but this suggests he is actually hugely overdoing things - surely it is up to individuals to look after their ageing cars:

Hometown Patriotism

I love the boosterism of this headline from the SMH:

A closer look reveals that Sydney is really doing pretty badly pricewise. A 1.5 percent rise looks pretty shabby compared to the 'bar one' 8.9 per cent rise enjoyed by Darwin - but, of course, Sydney is still nearly the best:

Apostrophe Alert

How on earth did this happen? The phrase is so hard to make sense of and so many people must have looked at the thing before it was sent to print - and yet still it got through:





Headline Failure

The Canberra Chronicle sub-editor who chose the heading '5 fun things to do this week' for a column that includes item No. 3 has a funny idea of 'fun':






Thursday, 3 January 2013

Soffrito

Soffrito, a delicious Ligurian memoir, is a lovely book by David Dale. Lovely though it is, every time I see this caption in it, I think, 'That could have been phrased better - thirty years is a very long time to be keeping the same food':

 Nevertheless, a lot is forgiveable in a book that teaches you how to make things as wonderful as this dish:

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Strangely Lovely

This subbing error is so oddly beautiful, it almost convinces me that the world might be a better place with fewer editors.

Monday, 26 November 2012

Do the Math, AFR

If you are going to put the word 'financial' in the title of your newspaper, it is probably a good idea to make sure that the figures you print are correct:



Friday, 9 November 2012

Proofreading and the US President

According to a Republican Party volunteer, the get out the vote strategy for their side was a disaster on Tuesday. Among the many mistakes he identifies, proofreading was important.

Thursday, 11 October 2012

Sunday, 7 October 2012

More Sloppiness

1. What are 'realtions'?



2. Apostrophe missing



3. Too many apostrophes



4. Why are you asking me? Is this a statement or isn't it?



5. Was it just any old lynch mob or was it the mother of all lynch mobs?



6. As long as she wasn't unlawyerly, I'm not bothered.



7. 'fewer' and 'less' - should I stop worrying about these? Is it all too late?



8. I'm confused - whose home? Mr Shorten's or Mr Chifley's?



9. It's funny the word 'turgidity' features in a sentence that is itself turgid - 'with more conviction and in a manner more free from ...' might work instead.



10. Should this be 'One side just can't sit there and SAY no'?



11. '...now we to need wonder no more'?



12. The sentence beginning 'And the contribution ...' seems to have lost a bit of itself. I don't love the phrase 'the variety of views put forwards was done in a way that we all should be proud of' either - can you 'do' a 'variety of views put forwards'?




13. Australia also comes 201th in capacity to use ordinal numbers.



14. Luckily our strength doesn't appear to depend on coherence either. Although it 'could also could' do.



15. The important thing is not what Tony Abbot is suggesting; the man who may have power is called Tony Abbott



16. So speedy that we can dispense with the odd word, in order to hurry things along.


17. In this piece though, the odd word has been inserted for no apparent reason.




18. If Mr Romney's wife and his son have had children together, isn't that called incest?