"I'm sorry. I can't mess this up..." "I was devastated." These are the now world-famous words of Grammy Award winner Adele, who showed the world that even in front of millions of people, it's better to stop, start over and do it right rather than forge ahead with a...
mistakes
Supernatural Spelling Mistake
This product will haunt your lips forever. As seen in an advertisement for lip butter: "Supernatural" is a word, which is why software probably didn't pick it up. Be careful with your spelling!
Inedible Spelling Mistake
If you read this carefully, you'll realize this menu item would be dangerous to consume...and potentially disgusting. What funny misspellings have you seen lately?
Your Author Website Could Be Killing Your Book Sales
by Anita Stratos, Proof Positive Editor So you’ve given your new book as much social media play as you possibly can. Your efforts have resulted in a nice, steady uptick in visitors to your author website, which is just what you wanted. Your blog talks about things...
Superfluous Verbiage and Unnecessary Words
by Anita Stratos, Proof Positive Editor Did you trip over the title of this post? Did you have to read it twice? If so, that’s because both phrases, “superfluous verbiage” and “unnecessary words”, mean the same thing, but your mind was trying to discern a difference....
Intention vs. Reality in Writing
“But Your Honor, I intended to help that little old lady across the street. Her purse handle just happened to loop over my arm, and I didn’t realize it was there until I was several blocks away and that cop tackled me!” Do you think any judge in the world would...
Killer Menu Misspelling
I couldn't resist posting a picture of this menu misspelling and the image it conjures - diners must have been calling the local fire department!
eBook Plague – Errors Aplenty
“Annoying.” “Very irritating.” These are just a couple of the most common descriptives readers are using when talking about their frustrations with the numerous errors in e-books. These readers are asking Amazon and other e-book distributors for refunds without...
Proofreading 101: The “Mined” Chicken Incident
Here's a fun little typo from a restaurant menu - it insinuates that the chicken was actually mined, the way diamonds or gold would be. Funny, I always thought that chickens were farmed, not mined! 😉 That proofreading error - "mined" instead of "minced" - flashed...
Ironic Forbes Error
This misspelling - and obvious proofreading oversight - was in a June 2, 2013 Forbes article titled, "Book Publishing May Actually Save Itself". What's ironic is that the error appeared in an article about publishing! And the misspelled word, which should have been...