Kate McCulley became so incensed about the grammatical errors she saw around her that she started a blog documenting not only the errors, but also the corrections. Visit her blog at http://thegrammarvandal.wordpress.com/ and read at least two of her entries. Then, look around this week and be alert to grammar errors.
Write your reaction to what she is doing and your reaction to her examples. Describe at least one grammar error you found, tell us where you found it (e.g. Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, a web site, an email, here on the campus at Globe, wherever), and what the correct usage would be.
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First off, I would like to say that I agree with what Kate is doing. She is opening up people’s eyes to show them all of the grammatical errors that occur in the world today. She shows that even companies that pride themselves on being extremely professional still make these kinds of errors. However, I think that we all have to come to the conclusion that this does happen, and will continue to happen, because nobody is perfect. This weekend I saw a sign at a fast food restaurant that was advertising there 99 cent “bugers” not burgers. I thought this was kind of comical. In the same thought it did made the business look un-professional. Grammatical errors can weigh big in the views of whoever published them.
ReplyDeleteI think that Kate's blog is very interesting. I think that it was a good subject matter concerning grammatical errors. People today in society are so caught up in a rush that they don't pay attention to things that can really matter. Having grammar errors on business signs, can make a business look very unprofessional. That can actually push their customers away. In my future career, there is really no time for grammar errors, especially when writing important court documents. A mess up on that can embarrass my attorney along with the rest of the legal team.
ReplyDeleteOne of my friends had received a tattoo a year ago. He got it on his back so he didn't get to see the tattoo until it was finished. Once, he saw the tattoo he was super upset with what he saw. One of the letters in his last name was in the wrong spot! That there just shows how important it is to take your time and thing when your doing things. It can be the simplest mistake with a big consequence!
Kate's blog is very interesting. I found some of it humors because many people have no idea that they are wrong. Sometimes these errors will not make or break a deal, but many times they can. People in today’s world need to stop and read what they are writing more than one time. If they fail to do so they will end up with grammatical errors.
ReplyDeleteI read in the USA Today article where a guy used whose instead of who's. Someone that was reading the article made a post saying he used it incorrectly. For him that has to be embarrassing to mix up words such as those as a professional writer. However, things happen and I am sure he double and triple checks his entries now.
I love what Kate McCulley is doing. It reminds me of what Jay Leno did on the Tonight Show with "headlines". People all over the country would send him newspaper ads, billboards, etc., that were either misspelled or grammatically incorrect. I am somewhat of a stickler when it comes to spelling and the improper use of words. I see it all the time, in fact I see it right here at Globe on blog entries and discussion boards. I make mistakes if I am rushed. That is why I feel it is so important to use spellcheck and proofread my documents and postings before I hand them in or publish them. A few minutes of my time can spare me much embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteThe church I go to has a coffeehouse in the basement. We are in the process of updating our manual, and I am proofreading the documents for that manual. Some of the documents were imported from PDF files, and they tend to import to a Word document with many errors. One that I came accross this morning was a Bible verse that was supposed to read "with a gentle and quiet spirit". It imported reading "with a genital and quiet spirit". Even though this manual is only read by my fellow coffeehouse workers, it would have been quite embarrassing to miss that error.
Yes, I am agreeing with Brad too. Because kate’s blog is look good and their organization website is good too; But some of the words are still missing, the pronoun is also not in order as it should be. I think people are making mistake everywhere; On last weekend I went to the Twice cities and went to the Old Buffet restaurant, on their manual said “Frcnech fry” other than French fry. So I have asked the waitress, what are it and how its taste likes? She explained to me and said “they didn’t have time to change it yet, it’s wrong. So she took my order and corrects the manual book. I think all of us, as reader and writer we need to help each other and put our hands together then some day we will solve most of these problem. Because we are not nature born to write and know everything.
ReplyDeleteI love what Kate McCulley is doing in bringing to our attention the grammatical errors happening in professional and business publishings that are set out for public viewing.
ReplyDeleteEvery Monday night I would watch Jay Leno on the Tonight Show when he did "headlines". It's so amazing to me that people don't seem to proofread what they were printing. Some of which reflects a poor professionalism to a business. I know I wouldn't be going to that business on a professional matter.
I notice there's alot of words that are misused/misspelled in blogs, newspapers, articles on the internet, and postings.
My recent siting was a posting for flu shots which read, "flus shots available" on given date, time and place.
I agree with what Kate is doing. She shows the grammar mistakes people make. These mistakes are still going to happen because no one is perfect. The grammar error that I found this week was when I needed to e-mail one of my teacher. I got the syllabus and looked for the e-mail address, when I found the e-mail address I saw that instead of an @ sign the teacher put a period.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Kate is doing, she is showing that everyone makes mistakes. If we see an error is something sometimes we look over it, however some bring it t peoples attition. This week one of my teachers corrected a paper of mine, and stated that I had an error with the way I worte the sentance. I brought it back up to my teacher, and asked her to explain what was wrong with the way it was written. After she looked at it she had realaized that what she did was worng, and the way I had it wrote was right. Even a teacher can be worng it what they do.
ReplyDeleteI think that what she is doing is very interesting. I think that her "job" would be very important to any business to ensure that it portrays a professional image. However, I think that merely pointing out the errors of other people is a little pretentious.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me a lot of a commercial that I saw a few years ago where a man was walking by a trash can and threw his garbage at it and it did not make it in the garbage can. He, of course did not see that it did not go in and kept walking. At which point a group of people began to stand around and point at the trash and talk about how bad it was to litter and that litter was ruining the earth. At the end of the commercial a young man walking by simply picked up the trash and threw it away.
The moral of the story is that rather than pointing out the problem and making a big deal of it why not fix the problem or at least try to.
I think that Kate would better serve everyone to become a teacher and try to help others rather than simply pointing out other peoples short comings.
I did see a spelling error on a power point presentation at a corporate training I went to last week. The error was that they left the "s" out of customer when talking about customer service. I just made sure to talk to my Disrrict Manager at break so that he could get the issue corrected.
I do believe that what Kate McCulley is doing opens up awareness to grammatical errors. I, however, do not believe it’s fair to make fun of the person who has done it. Sometimes we make mistakes. Even as I read some of the examples on her blog, I find myself having to read it through a couple of times to finally find the error. Criticizing someone for making a mistake is wrong. Letting someone know that a mistake has been made, and giving suggestions on how to correct it is right. I do not enjoy criticizing people and will probably not enjoy her blog as much; others my think otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI am undecided about what Kate is doing with her blog. A lot of her posts were humorous, but making grammactical errors are bound to happen in this world. The english languege is very complex so it's easy to understand that errors can occur. I like the posts that bring up material thats more significant. Some of them seemed to get repetitive though and it seems like she just wants to bring it to people's attention, which she is doing successfully. A common example from my life that I encounter is the use of your and you're. I think you can attribute this easy error in grammar to the fact that they sound the exact same when spoken, but they have completely different meanings.
ReplyDeleteI think Kate is doing a good job of making people aware of gramatical errors. I like that she uses humor to do it and I think that is one way to attract people to her blog and keep it interesting. People do make mistakes which is natural but it does not look good in a business setting. This assignment asks us to find a grammer error. One that came to mind right away was one of my competitor's. I usually visit our competitor's websites. One company was talking about their services and how they have creative and technical writer's to write rich content. They had a couple spelling error's on their site. My first thought was that look's terrible. Will they being able to write rich content on other people's websites when they have errors on their's? However, I won't mention the company name because I just went to their site and they are all taken care of. I was actually glad to see that the errors were taken care of.
ReplyDeleteI think Katie's blog is a good idea, but it seems to only apply to people who hate grammatical errors. I do agree with everyone who says that it affects the businesses image. It can make your business look unprofessional. One of the grammatical errors that I saw was a sign at a grocery store that mixed up then and than. I think that is a common mistake that a lot a people catch. The sign said "better then moms". I do think grammatical errors are funny in some cases. Like the ones that Jay Leno finds on his TV show.
ReplyDeleteI loved this blog. I am going to track it from now on. Poor grammar is a plague in today’s world. Too many people think they can get away with these low standards. Not only is she calling them out, but presenting it with a great sense of humor. I was particularly impressed with her post about people who are afraid to e-mail her. She states very clearly that the blog’s intent is to expose poor grammar in professional writing. She goes on to tell the readers not to be scared of her mockery in casual e-mails because it is not they who are the targets.
ReplyDeleteMy experience in bad grammar this week was extensive due to an assignment in Composition 121. We were to proof read two other classmate’s papers. Describing and ranting about the mistakes I found would easily take up the rest of my day. I think the problem lies in people being too hurried in properly encoding a message in their minds. If a person who wants to say something right, they just need to have the patience to form it then write it down. Far too many people just write as they think, hurrying the encoding process.
I think that it is kinda funny to see that someone is taking the time to find all of this stuff to put up on the website. To me it would be a waste of time but for others, I guess that it is entertainment
ReplyDeleteIt is very entertaining and interesting to read them. I see these simple mistakes, and it almost makes me want to post some of the ones I have seen. One of the best ones I have seen didn't happen this week, but I remember looking at drawing done by a student in high school. It was suppose to be a comic book cover, so it had a title and caption. The title was fine, but the caption was suppose to say "living big', but instead it said, "livinig big." I was pretty funny because that person went through all the work to draw the cover, and then messed up on the spelling, which was permanent.
ReplyDeleteI was a little surprised to see what kind of examples she had found. I liked the restaurants she found (i also would not eat some where with those kinds of names). I also was surprised with her American Eagle shirt example. It is showing how even big designer stores and company's are not even paying attention to the grammer.
ReplyDeleteI found an error on a handout from work that all of us employees were given. I found it a little funny because i work for a company that has stores throughout the whole state. This handout was given to everyone at the stores.
I think what she is doing is pretty interesting. The stories I find pretty humorous too. Some of her examples are little mistakes that in turn made a huge one. The blog about the two co-workers was the absolute worst I think, how embarrassing. I found today in one of my classes a student was giving a presentation with a slide show. Instead of using cultural she used culturals when it should have been singular.
ReplyDeleteI like her website. Although I myself haven't been keeping track of errors in public, I can see how easy it is to make a mistake. Sometimes the mistakes are small,insignificant, and sometimes commical. Other times the mistakes could become dealbreakers, to the point you could possibly never have any business again.
ReplyDeleteI like what Kate is doing, it shows the importance of proof reading, especially in a business setting. I also like that she uses humor, it shows that she is making light a situation everyone makes mistakes with.
ReplyDeleteThe grammatical error that I came across this week was at my doctor's office. I had to fill out paperwork and at the bottom where I was to sign and print my name there was an error. Instead of print legibly it said please print 'eligibly'. Obviously, these have two words have completely different meanings, eligibly has nothing to do with how a person is to write. I did point it out to the secretary so it could be corrected.
I agree with Kate on what she is doing. There are alot of grammar errors in our everyday life from e-mail to newspapers, magazines,and books. I am happy to see that someone is concerned about this problem. I also like that she gives feedback to the people that made the error so they can fix it and also be more aware of their grammar errors. I read the blog with the tattoo and if I were to go through the pain for a tattoo, I would make sure the words were spelled correctly and also I would not want the tattoo atist's name put on my body. I also read the blog about mixing up the words your and you're. This can cause quite a problem. I am sure the lady was quite surprised with the picture that was sent to her from her friend by mixing up the two words your and you're. I have not run across any grammar errors recently, but this summer in my Business Math class there were some grammar errors in our text books.
ReplyDeleteI think the website is rather clever. There are many obvious grammar errors out there. I think it is great Kate is pointing out all of these errors. People are paying less attention to grammar these days. I think it is due to advances in technology and the popularity of texting. Kate's website would be more useful if everyone knew about it and it could be used as an instructional tool.
ReplyDeleteI have ran into some major grammar errors. They have happened when I have been reading instructions on how to set up a machine at work. Chinese and Japanese translated into English pose a huge problem. Sometimes the sentences make no sense and can be rather humorous a times. Usually I can figure out what they are trying to say. I think people translating these instructions should have a proof reader fluent in English.
Yikes! As much as I can find the humor in the blogs Kate McCulley has created, I'm totally freaked out about posting now! Thanks Erica! It's now 9:30p and I've been debating posting for nearly four hours. See, my mother and brother are blessed with the writing aspect, while my father and I are blessed with the dictionary! I currently recieved an e-mail from my teacher about watching spelling, grammer, and "andy" other texting language in our posts. I e-mailed back asking who "andy" was...She replied that between her smily faces and ha, ha's she wan't sure what I was poking fun at? Do I even point out the "wan't"? She also commented that we aren't to do as she does, but as she says...very interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt is a nice way to joke about all the grammatical errors without offending someone. It is just good clean fun.
ReplyDeleteWell I have a very hard time not typing with smiley faces and slang words. Texting and face book did that to me. Right now I am currently taking a keyboarding class where it is pretty difficult for me to not use slang. But it is pretty interesting to see all the errors that really do occur so commonly.
ReplyDeleteI loved what Kate has been doing, with opening our eyes to all the grammar errors that occur in the business world today, sometimes we just write how we speak and not even pay attention to how things are even spelled. When I read articles in the Leader Telegram I always go to the comment section to see what people have written, you will be amazed at how many people always get "their" wrong, I bet about 75% of the people will spell it "thier", it just makes me want to write a comment and say, use the spell check on your computer before you submit the comment.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was fun sight to visit. It is amazing how many errors you find when you are looking for them. I can't believe how many errors I found when I was taking my time and looking for them. I found this very interesting.
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