Thursday, August 25, 2011

How Did I Miss THAT?

If you've read my blog for a bit, you probably know how freakish I am about grammar and punctuation. So how did I not know that March 4th was National Grammar Day? I had to look back in my blog to see what I was doing that could possibly have taken priority over a day dedicated to the celebration of good grammar--turns out that's when I was working crazy long hours and stayed half the night at work the night before with my boss trying to get a project out the door.

Maybe you wonder what got me started with the grammar thing today? Or maybe you already know?

Old Navy. Old Navy partnered with a number of well known colleges and universities around the country to market a line of football T-shirts. Unfortunately, the tees were printed with "Lets Go!!"--which is missing an apostrophe between the "t" and "s." Really, how does that happen? (Click HERE to see the tee.) And how will the Old Navy TV mannequins sell these things?

Do you know what else I missed? The Wet Seal T-shirt error. The T-shirt was printed with a fairly tacky slogan that said "If Your Single, So Am I." (Photo HERE.) "Your" should have been "you're," as in "you are." It's a contraction. Sheesh!

On a positive note, The Wild Child hopes to become an editor once she completes her education. It seems there's a real need for editors, just as long as marketers and advertisers wake up and realize it.

Next year, remind me about the March 4th "holiday," okay? I hate to miss these kinds of crazy, fun, wild celebrations!

10 comments:

Kim said...

I'm so with you! I have even had to quit reading a blog or two because the grammar was driving me crazy! What is Ols Navy thinking?

Judy in Michigan said...

UR write Kim. With all this texting none will now how two spell. There not going two get jobs to.

Drives me nuts!!

Amy said...

They call me the "Grammar Nazi" at work since I'm a stickler for good grammar. My pet peeve is punctuation outside quotation marks. It is rampant everywhere (except your blog - thank you).

MB in MI said...

You're SO right!!The 'your' thing is a big no-no for me! Carry on! :)

pcflamingo said...

Ahem. I have been known to call businesses to let them know their reader boards have words misspelled. Or that they have been attacked by random apostrophes...."shoe's on sale today only!!!" The whole your vs. you're thing and there/their/they're and too/to/two really just sends me over the edge. And I too, have stopped reading blogs that don't use proper spelling or grammar.

AnnieO said...

My daughter did a guest rant on my blog about that Wet Seal T-shirt! It was a gross sentiment, even before the grammar error. I have a big pet peeve about plural and possessive--many folks can't seem to grasp that one! Since I spell for a living (transcriptionist) my attention is focused on it, but I surely make mistakes too now and then!

Heckety said...

So have you read Lynn Truss' book 'Eats Shoots and Leaves'? I mean to get it from the Library but somehow the Gardening section keeps calling me at the moment...and yes, although my spelling is not good at all, bad grammar and absent apostrophes really get my goat.

Melissa said...

Grammar issues drive me crazy. I. too, have ceased following some blogs due to rampant disregard for grammar and spelling, "walla" vs "voila," in particular. Really???

Sharrieboberry said...

Ha ha! The misspelled "Lets" is even on the Old Navy commercial. It goes by VERY quickly. For Shame!! :D

Heartsdesire said...

I know we've talked about this issue before, but bad punctuation is everywhere. Before retiring, I was a copy editor/proofreader and I find it very annoying to see simple mistakes such as the Old Navy t-shirt ad. How can a large company like that not have a proofreader? I think the problem is that people (bloggers) don't read over their copy before printing. If they did, they would, hopefully, see their mistakes. Wake up people, there's a difference between it's and its. The Lynne Truss book mentioned in the above comment is a perfect read for anyone interested in punctuation. On a lighter note, I think your idea for hosting a quilt-a-long is great