WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FEATURES ILLITERATEBUSINESSES.CA

The Winnipeg Free Press is taking aim at punctuation errors in Winnipeg business signs, and is leaning on illiteratebusinesses.ca founder, Maria Ford, for help.

Ford will proofread and provide commentary on alleged punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors that Winnipeg Free Press readers submit to the publication over the next week.

Details can be found here: www.winnipegfreepress.com/kaszas.

Comments

[Marcia Bakkerud]

I ran across your site today and was thrilled to learn that there's a kindred spirit out there who's ranting and raving about misplaced apostrophes, spelling, grammar, and more. I almost felt it was a flaw in my character that every error I find on a poster or sign, a TV advertisement, the newspaper, or a magazine upsets me so much. Too few people notice such errors, and when they do, they would never dream of confronting the source with them and providing solutions.

American grammar and punctuation seem to have gone downhill rapidly during the last ten years, and I think one reason is that advertisers are afraid of losing customers by sounding too lofty. They will use the word "who" instead of "whom" either because they feel they have to talk down to the public or because they're incapable of learning how to use the two words.

I worked as an administrative assistant at a university. It's amazing how few Ph.D.s can write an error-free paragraph. A sign posted on the student center announced that the people allowed to use the facility were "students, faculty, staff, and alumnae." This, of course, would exclude admission to all male graduates of the university. I pointed this out to my boss. He checked it out with Public Relations, and they told him that, yes, this was a bad thing to post on his building. But good grammar wasn't on his agenda, so the sign stayed up.

I could rant and rave all day long, but I suffer from high blood pressure and should take a break.

Thank you for being there. I will send your address to everybody I know who will be interested in your work: my daughter and one of my brothers. Can't think of anybody else, unfortunately.

I would like to add that sometimes I will circle a mistake on an advertisement and spend 39 cents to mail it to the editor of the publication where it appeared. I will circle errors in letters sent to me by advertisers and let them know that they are advertising their ignorance. But I don't do this often, because it would be too costly.

I wish you a happy holiday season.