Click any of the links above for errors in grammer.

August 12, 2005 9:29 AM

This website is about advertising mistakes, such as the L in Staples, capitalized letters where they shouldn't be, and other things that could confuse kindergarten students.
posted by angry modem (79 comments total)

How many times... If you're gonna correct other people's spelling and grammar, make sure you check yours carefully first!
posted by benzo8 at 9:34 AM on August 12, 2005

Misplaced pedantry for tots.
posted by signal at 9:34 AM on August 12, 2005

I think it's a great idea! I'm sure it got the kids thinking and really understanding the principles the teacher was teaching. And they got to use computer skills to create the web site. It was an interesting project...so much better than sitting in class and reading about it.

Stuff like this is HUGE in teaching. Good for them. Yes, it's done for marketing purposes to look different, but it's a cool project about grammar, not about marketing.
posted by aacheson at 9:37 AM on August 12, 2005

Disabling the back button is annoying.

Writing a letter to the company should not be part of the exercise.
posted by linux at 9:38 AM on August 12, 2005

Toys Я Us scarred me for life.
posted by mosch at 9:38 AM on August 12, 2005

Well, I'm gonna raise hell for them calling UPS an acronym. It's an initialism.
posted by herting at 9:39 AM on August 12, 2005

These kids are going to make fine Internet grammar trolls when they grow up.
posted by sbutler at 9:40 AM on August 12, 2005

I see the students of Frank H. Hammond Elementary School have already mastered the art of the embedded midi.
posted by yhbc at 9:41 AM on August 12, 2005

hmm, seems they hid all immediately reasonable forms of contacting the page author. Once I track down her email I will have to threaten a cease and desist for using the Trademarked "for Dummies" expression.
posted by herting at 9:42 AM on August 12, 2005

It should be Walden's Books.
Petsmart should be Pet's Mart.
The "L" is shaped incorrectly like a deform staple.

I am baffled about what their teacher is trying to get across here. 'Cause this ain't grammar.
posted by 4easypayments at 9:43 AM on August 12, 2005

And I'm sorry, but I really don't understand the K.F.C. one. First off, they say it should be spelt exactly as they say it is spelt, when it isn't - on the sign they show, it's KFC, without the dots. Which is right for an acronym. Except KFC isn't an acronym as they claim (at least not in English - in Russian maybe) - there is no pronouncable word which is KFC...

Gonna stop looking now. Laudable though the concept it,. some quality control was needed before it was released onto the world - now the kids just look stupid, have made their own mistakes which haven't been picked up on (yet) and have learned little but how to point out basic grammar errors where grammar doesn't ruly apply...
posted by benzo8 at 9:44 AM on August 12, 2005

In Soviet Russia,
Toys Я игрушки!

(The Я always bugged me as a kid. When I started learning Russian, it just annoyed me)
posted by zerokey at 9:45 AM on August 12, 2005

Aw, sweet...
posted by Lillitatiana at 9:47 AM on August 12, 2005

"This ain't no grammar! This ain't no mistake! This ain't no quality teaching!"
posted by MaxVonCretin at 10:00 AM on August 12, 2005

I'd have to admit that I'm a grammar nazi, but certainly not to the point of criticizing creative uses of the language as a means to market a product. Even their criticisms are rather arbitrary -- Petsmart could as easily be Pet Smart as Pet's Mart. I think that was the whole point...

Now, I can understand criticisms of the "Real X" ads. Not they stand out among the others, but that I feel it exacerbates the problem people have between the usage of "real" and "really".

The real criticism is ignorance in marketing. I mean, who really came up with the idea to use an Iggy Pop song about the joys of using heroin for a cruise ship?
posted by thanotopsis at 10:06 AM on August 12, 2005

If schoolkids were as smart as college level adults, they wouldn't be schoolkids.
posted by smackfu at 10:26 AM on August 12, 2005

The purpose of logos and titles are to stick in your mind and be aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes, that means sacrificing things that might bother little kids and their teachers. Anyway, someone should tell these children that a "deformed 'L'" is not a grammar issue.

I wonder what comes up next in their class...Song Titles for Dummies? "I Am Not Too Proud To Beg, "You Have Not Seen Anything Yet" and "He Is Not Heavy, Rather, He Is My Brother".
posted by apple scruff at 10:32 AM on August 12, 2005 [2 favorites]

[sings] You say prescriptive, I say descriptive, let's call the whole thing off...
[/stops singing, returns to copyediting a 150-page index]
posted by scratch at 10:37 AM on August 12, 2005

I'm with benzo8. Most of these "mistakes" are nothing of the sort.

On Petsmart: It could just be Pets Mart, no damn apostrophe needed. It's a Mart for Pets, not a Mart that belongs to Pets.

electronic boutique: the error is a lack of capitalization? Show these kids e e cummings. And the page title is misspelled, to boot. So the kids point out a non-existant mistake, and make a mistake doing it.

Interesting idea, seriously borked execution.

What this is really doing is teaching the kids to obliterate context and ignore the style of writing, and thus apply the wrong set of rules to the text. And that's not something we should be teaching at all.
posted by teece at 10:38 AM on August 12, 2005

thanotopsis said:

The real criticism is ignorance in marketing. I mean, who really came up with the idea to use an Iggy Pop song about the joys of using heroin for a cruise ship?

Oh, thank merciful heaven I'm not the only one who has been horrified by this. If I had money I would refuse to use Carnival Cruises out of protest.... as I have no money I have found that I am "boycotting" most everything.
posted by herting at 10:48 AM on August 12, 2005

These are the types of activities that make kids into pretentious grammar snobs later in life. The fact that they asked the companies to change their logos really annoys me.
posted by elquien at 10:50 AM on August 12, 2005

This time would be better spent sussing out abuses of apostrophes and quotation marks in signs, because, man, there's where the abuse happens.
posted by maxsparber at 10:51 AM on August 12, 2005

The "R" swings down and becomes part of the "X". This makes it look like one word, and Carx is not a word.

If you were to look up Carx in the dictionary it wouldn't be in there. If it were a word in the dictionary, it would be on page 112.

Awesome.
posted by schwong at 10:51 AM on August 12, 2005

The real criticism is ignorance in marketing. I mean, who really came up with the idea to use an Iggy Pop song about the joys of using heroin for a cruise ship?

I *just* saw that ad and nearly threw something at the screen, too. Though my take was different: I assumed the execs in question knew quite well that the original song was an ode to smack and figured it would (winkingly, elliptically) brand the cruise company in question as "exciting" or whatever.

I was palpably disappointed when they got to the line about liquor and drugs and jumped to the chorus instead. Now I've got this horrible mental image of the Stooges as a Neil Diamond tribute cruiseship band. Thanks, world.
posted by joe lisboa at 10:52 AM on August 12, 2005

If schoolkids were as smart as college level adults, they wouldn't be schoolkids.
Yes, school kids like playing and making stuff up - college adults like paying and blowing stuff up.

Seems the kids are playing “I-Spy.” Not, “hey you, corporate America”, you are spelt incorrectly...I hope that is the exercise here.
posted by thomcatspike at 10:55 AM on August 12, 2005

If we should be teaching our kids anything, it should be about not linking to Tripods members sites.
posted by ToasT at 10:55 AM on August 12, 2005

Grammar Problem (mistake):

All of the letters in "SUBWAY" shouldn't be capitalized, and the arrows at the end of the "s" and the "y" shouldn't be there, because it messes up the letters.

This is brilliant, no?
posted by nobody at 10:58 AM on August 12, 2005

These kids (or more likely, this teacher) are just dumb.

"All of the letters in "SUBWAY" shouldn't be capitalized, and the arrows at the end of the "s" and the "y" shouldn't be there, because it messes up the letters. "

Yeah, you can never write anything in all caps as a title or logo, and you can never use anything but Times New Roman.

Also, it's funny how they complain about the "Lil Jalapeños" logo for improp capitalization, while they consistently misspell "jalapeños" as "jalapenos". Hi, kids, that tilde actually means something.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:01 AM on August 12, 2005

Fifth-Third should be pronounced five-thirds, which is actually a fraction.  Five-thirds is an improper fraction. It should be one and two-thirds.

posted by nobody at 11:02 AM on August 12, 2005

The problem with verizon is that they don't capitalize the "V" in verizon.

*wags finger in the air*

WHO'S "THEY"? WHO'S "THEY"?
posted by Smart Dalek at 11:04 AM on August 12, 2005

I think it's a great way to teach kids what the rules of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization are. I think it's ridiculous that they wrote letters to the companies, though, since the "mistakes" they point out were pretty obviously not made in error.

The exercise reminds me of something my high school physics teacher had my class do. We had to watch a Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoon, and list as many things as we could that we saw that defied the laws of physics, and how. It was a lot of fun, and really made us think. We did not, however, write a letter to Warner Brothers after watching it, telling them that their cartoon was unscientific.
posted by cerebus19 at 11:06 AM on August 12, 2005

Uh guys, "Lust For Life" is about the joys of getting off heroin--

No more beatin my brains
with liquor and drugs

I mean, just because he went back to it later...
posted by InfidelZombie at 11:08 AM on August 12, 2005

The word "little" is misspelled and it is supposed to be little or you could put in an apostraphe after the letters "LIL", like this LIL'. Also LIL JALAPENOS is capitalized and this word should not be.

Dear students of Frank H. Hammond Elementary School,

Bugger off you illiterate lil' twats.

Yours truly,
LIL JALAPENOS
posted by Armitage Shanks at 11:14 AM on August 12, 2005

Adorable lil grammer nazi's. Ain't that da cutesst?
posted by fungible at 11:26 AM on August 12, 2005

Good ol' One and Two-Thirds Bank(s)...

I like the forced compounding of "PETsMART" (that's how it shows up in a Google search)...if you squint a little, you get the phrase "pet-smart," which is a concept the store probably wants to engender in its customers so they'll feel better about buying buying cat food there.

(There's gotta be someplace in Columbus that's closer and cheaper but still carries Science Diet brand....)
posted by alumshubby at 11:41 AM on August 12, 2005

buying buying...Oh, groan groan....
posted by alumshubby at 11:42 AM on August 12, 2005

Isn't this just another example of you Americans not getting irony?

The "L" is shaped incorrectly like a deform staple.

Hehe.
posted by Cicerius at 11:43 AM on August 12, 2005

Stuff like this is HUGE in teaching.

And judging by what a runaway success American schools are, such exercises should be stepped up, pronto!
posted by Kwantsar at 11:54 AM on August 12, 2005

And the page title is misspelled, to boot. So the kids point out a non-existant mistake

roffle.
posted by Kwantsar at 11:55 AM on August 12, 2005

it's funny how they complain about the "Lil Jalapeños" logo for improp capitalization

Not only that but they'yre wrong about where the apostrophe denoting a contraction should go: it's li'l not lil' -- go look it up.
posted by davy at 12:09 PM on August 12, 2005

I meant: "Not only that but they're wrong..."

Studies show I'm more likely to post mistakes and typos when I'm correcting other peoples' errors.
posted by davy at 12:11 PM on August 12, 2005

The idea is good, but focusing on corporate logos is a bit pointless - there's the matter of trade- and servicemarking to consider, and that's a bit tricky (usually you can't protect plain old words like "Pet.") A better exercise would be to find bad grammar and punctuation in ad copy, politician's speeches, newspaper copy, and, of course, store signs (Pizza with "Meat" and "Onions" $2 "Extra").
posted by QuietDesperation at 12:14 PM on August 12, 2005

QuietDesperation writes A better exercise would be to find bad grammar and punctuation in ad copy, politician's speeches, newspaper copy, and, of course, store signs (Pizza with 'Meat' and 'Onions' $2 'Extra')."

Ah yes - that terrible use of quotations as emphasis, whereas most people who read them mentally do the little air-quotes and think "Pizzas, not really with meat... Hmmm... I'll go elsewhere."
posted by benzo8 at 12:19 PM on August 12, 2005

These kids and that teacher are mind-bogglingly stupid.

Click any of the links above for errors in grammer.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 12:37 PM on August 12, 2005

I find it particularly ironic that the page for JCPenney (there should be periods after the J and C, dontcha know) is misspelled "JCPenny" at the top of the page and the title bar too. Hee hee!
posted by Lord Kinbote at 12:39 PM on August 12, 2005

All over their Web site, eBay is always spelled with a lower-case "e", followed by a upper-case "B". The original idea for the name was an auction bay on the internet, so add an "e" to a "Bay, and you've got eBay. While the prefixed, lower-case "e" is a very passe 1990s thing, that's not what bothers me. The problem is their logo: The logo is spelled ebaY.

Logo: ebaY
In text: eBay

This inconsistency drives me mad, mad I say!
posted by Lord Kinbote at 12:45 PM on August 12, 2005

These kids and that teacher are mind-bogglingly stupid. -- Optimus Chyme

You spelled grammar wrong...
posted by mr.dan at 12:45 PM on August 12, 2005

Sorry Optimus, I didn't notice that was quote! Use italics next time so I don't look like an idiot.
posted by mr.dan at 12:48 PM on August 12, 2005

Oh, QD & benzo8, yes! I also love "fresh" seafood and the like. At least they're probably being honest.

And "grape's $1.00/lb" sometimes makes me cry.
posted by peep at 12:51 PM on August 12, 2005

On the one hand, I agree that a lot of the mistakes they are pointing out aren't actually mistakes at all and if they are going to point out grammatical errors it would be a good idea to actually know what they're talking about.

On the other hand, I'm hoping that this exercise will encourage these kids to think critically about corporate logos and marketing. To really examine what they are actually trying to convey instead of just allowing them to sink into their subconscious without any thought at all, as I have done. Who wants subs?
posted by LeeJay at 12:54 PM on August 12, 2005

Wow, I'd never thought there was a perfect post for angry modem to post but this is it.

These aren't mistakes, they're called marketing techniques. They're intended purpose is to get you to think about and subsquently buy or hire their product or service.

But I'm sure these grammar and spelling trolls will have long and fruitful lives irritating the hell out of people with their corrections.
posted by fenriq at 1:03 PM on August 12, 2005

This thread is why adults quit playing years ago, way too serious.
Add, bet none of you spell “opossum” correctly.
posted by thomcatspike at 1:05 PM on August 12, 2005

Honestly, if the teacher thought that analyzing wordmarks for 'grammar' mistakes was a good idea, he/she shouldn't be teaching that grammar class.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 1:26 PM on August 12, 2005

And "grape's $1.00/lb" sometimes makes me cry.

A good example of the grocer's apostrophe.
posted by Lillitatiana at 1:30 PM on August 12, 2005

It's not a crack "house," it's a crack home.
posted by hal9k at 1:30 PM on August 12, 2005

I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit of a grammar pedant, but this is just ridiculous. They're applying rules to situations they're not designed to cover. There are thousands of grammar and spelling mistakes out there; I see them on signs, in local papers (out the wazoo), even in New York Times or Associated Press articles. Why not teach the kids to recognize real errors people make every day instead of looking for spurious errors in trademarks? That would "definately" be a better idea.

Also, it's funny how they complain about the "Lil Jalapeños" logo for improp capitalization, while they consistently misspell "jalapeños" as "jalapenos". Hi, kids, that tilde actually means something.

Mi hermano tiene tres anos. ¿Cuántos anos tienes tú?

Pues, yo tengo solo un ano. Es el único que necesito.
posted by musicinmybrain at 1:43 PM on August 12, 2005

To: Those of you aghast that we sent letters to the companies.

From: Us kids.

Please find enclosed a draft of our letter [pdf].

The first three paragraphs explain who we are and what we're doing. The last paragraph reads as follows:

We are using your product or store name for our Internet site. If you have a problem with that, please contact us at our school’s address or fax us. We will be happy to take of your product or name out of our site. We would be very happy if you switched your product or store name.

I think our teacher said we better write to the companies to make sure they're not mad at us, but we really wanted him to ask if they'd change their logos, too. He told us it was probably unlikely to happen so we didn't push it or anything.
posted by nobody at 1:45 PM on August 12, 2005

Someone should show the little brats the arrow in the FedEx logo between the last e and x. That kinda stuff will confuse *and* scar 'em for life.
posted by snarkywench at 2:49 PM on August 12, 2005

As a resident of Southeast Michigan, I do see the MEIJER "Why pay more!" quite a bit. That is a true grammar mistake worth pointing out to students. I certainly agree that the grocer's apostrophe mistakes can be annoying. I'm also a language descriptivist, so...

As a former graphic designer, though, these kids drive me *&^(#&! nuts!

I think I'm going to blame this all on overspecialization in American education... yeah, that's it!
posted by Slothrop at 2:51 PM on August 12, 2005

This is the stupidest site I've seen all week.

Seriously, while OCD isn't something people should be made to feel guilty about, it certainly shouldn't be encouraged either.
posted by clevershark at 3:02 PM on August 12, 2005

You all are pathetic. Such cynicism and meanspiritedness.

They are KIDS for god's sake. This was a project that was probably very interesting and got them interested in figuring out where things aren't correct in everyday life. Rather than sitting around and hearing the teacher drone on, they got to apply what they learned outside of school. And probably continue to do so.

When I said this type of thing is huge in schooling, I meant finding a project that gets them out of their seats and makes things applicable in everyday life.

Yes, the letters to the companys were pathetic, yes there are mistakes in the web page, yes-they aren't all grammar mistakes. But it's a cool project.
posted by aacheson at 3:42 PM on August 12, 2005

I have a very hard time believing that this was an actual school project.

If it was, it's incredibly depressing.

Physician, heal thyself. If you are pointing out grammatical and spelling errors, you should not create a site riddled with them.

This must be some huge inside joke. Why else the ads?
posted by mrgrimm at 3:58 PM on August 12, 2005

You all are pathetic.
All :D
I had similar thoughts in my comments above where I mentioned the kids were playing "I Spy" & ects.
posted by thomcatspike at 4:00 PM on August 12, 2005

Why else the ads?

Sorry. Forget it was Tripod. Ick.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:00 PM on August 12, 2005

Ironically, the spelled grammar incorrectly.
posted by hoborg at 4:10 PM on August 12, 2005

hoborg writes "

---

Ironically, the spelled grammar incorrectly."

Bet they'd have read the whole thread before posting though...
posted by benzo8 at 4:22 PM on August 12, 2005

aacheson, love the blanket dismissal, really helps.

This was a stupid project, there are plenty of real grammatical errors in the world that don't involve logos (which, as was noted above, have a point in their design and spelling and color and everything). Focusing on poorly spelled logos overlooks the myriad of other places where grammar takes a back seat to space or laziness. They could have gathered menus from local restuarants, they could have used the local paper, they could have really hit a gold mine and hit up some blogs that think spelling correctly and using punctuation is for losers.

They could have chosen a much more appropriate subject is what I'm saying. I think its a cool idea but they chose to do it on a stupid subject.
posted by fenriq at 4:36 PM on August 12, 2005

Yes fenriq, but kids are more interested in brand names and such rather than the newspaper or restaurant menus.

Ok...I didn't mean ALL of you. :)
posted by aacheson at 5:00 PM on August 12, 2005

Guys, it's just funny. It's not a war in iraq.
posted by angry modem at 5:05 PM on August 12, 2005

What we really need is a website that documents spelling and punctuation errors. I ate at a subway last night that offered "veggie's".
posted by RosesAreRed at 8:18 PM on August 12, 2005

They're looking for incorrect gramma in marketing, and they managed to miss Apple's ubiquitous "Think different" error?

Fail.

:-)
posted by -harlequin- at 10:22 PM on August 12, 2005

Oops, grammar, typo. Not looking for incorrect grandparents :-)
posted by -harlequin- at 10:23 PM on August 12, 2005

-harlequin- : That's a shame. I though you'd deliberately misspelled grammar as some sort of lateral linguistic meta-humour.

Incidentally, your username includes two hyphens, even though it is not between two adjacent words.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:52 AM on August 13, 2005

I think in principle it's an interesting way to approach teaching punctuation, but I'd hope that it would then lead on to the kids looking at ways in which we can mess with the 'rules' in order to create impact, be it in advertising or in writing poetry etc. But describing the mistakes as 'cute' in the rating system? Yuk.
posted by kumonoi at 12:40 PM on August 13, 2005

I ate at a subway last night that offered "veggie's".

Great. I would have spent my entire dinner muttering to myself, "Veggie's what? Underwear? Bicycle? Unused kitty litter?" I was always the kid in the back of the bus going to camp chortling to myself over the candy bar wrapper that read, "The 'Tasty' Treat with 'real chocolate.'" The other kids never understood me.

Recently a local store changed names from Gwen's Curtain to Gwen's Curtains thus ending years of good clean family fun.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 1:02 PM on August 13, 2005

I can sort of see how the basic idea is kind of nifty. Advertising is so ubiquitous, and its respect for grammar so non-existent, that something like this is a good way to cement in these kids' minds that you can't write like a company logo all the time.

But somebody deserves a smack for disabling my back button.
posted by RobotHero at 3:01 PM on August 13, 2005

I think it's a great idea. Anything that trains kiddos to look critically at advertising and logos is A-OK in my book.
posted by jennyb at 3:25 PM on August 13, 2005

Uh guys, "Lust For Life" is about the joys of getting off heroin--

Well, yeah, taken literally, but it's awfully hard to solely read that song on its surface, especially in light of his lifestory and all.
posted by joe lisboa at 3:58 PM on August 13, 2005

...boy is that dumb....
posted by rougy at 11:47 AM on August 14, 2005