Bad spelling

Bill1 said:

Spelling.

Do you think that they have used a unique spelling so they can claim some rights to the name of the product?

Click to expand...

Yes. It started in the 60s. A handful of companies deliberately misspelled their products' names to break through the clutter and call attention to the item. One of the biggies that got a lot of attention in the 1930s was: Kool Cigarettes. Suddenly everyone was doing it and it no longer called attention to the product. Similar to today's mashing words together for product or company names.

In the late 70s I met a young woman from Paris, France who was visiting family in Miami, Florida. We were driving around and she was astonished at all of the business signs, billboards, and advertising that misspelled names and headlines. And asked, me if Americans were such terrible spellers. I tried to explain "artistic/poetic license" in advertising, but she was having none of it. Her response was, "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard." I didn't disagree. When everybody's doing it, it's no longer unique or unusual and loses its impact.

Joe King said:

What kills me is "could of" when what is meant "could have", as in "I could have learned more, but I was too lazy" and also the incessant use of the word "anyways" to transition a conversation.

Whenever I hear "anyways" or read "could of" it make me cringe.

Then I try to remember that of course, I am not perfect (nor claim to me), and that I should not focus on such mistakes, and try to distract myself with some other thought or activity.

Sometimes it is very hard to let go of the cringe feeling.

Click to expand...

I believe they are saying "Could've" and it comes across as "Could of".

The thing that I really cringe at is the use of "Busted" instead of "Broken" or "Broke". Even newscasters do it. "The house was busted into." or "They busted down the door."

I especially like "leanrt" and "Ruint". I heard them all the time in Kentucky and Tennessee.

"Communication doesn't exist until the message is understood, and acknowledged."

As I said to a sick Teacher I knew, 'There,Their,They're'. It made him feel a bit better!

Not everyone is as smart as we are.

Look at some of the writing describing items on Amazon. They are probably written by people who do not speak English very well. I guess it's not worth the effort for Amazon to edit every description.

That would be Engrish.

Some folk persistently write "practice" when they mean "practise". Even the spell checker is telling me I'm wrong!

John Colter

Jim Yates said:

There was a warning billboard on the side of Highway 115 in Southern Ontario that pictured a police officer pointing his finger at us. The caption read, "Drink, your fine. Drink and drive, your mine!" I often drove by this sign and winced every time I read it.
Generally I don't approve of vandalism, but it made me smile when, after years of driving by that sign, I saw the apostrophes and "e"s added in black paint to each "your".

Click to expand...

It's not hard to find grammatical and spelling errors - unfortunately.

Their sure r alot of em.

ukantor said:

Some folk persistently write "practice" when they mean "practise". Even the spell checker is telling me I'm wrong!

John Colter

Click to expand...

I don't like the idea of the English adopting American spelling - or words. That's one of the main reasons Americans visit the British Isles: to see all those funny spellings.