Saturday, August 02, 2008

Brookstone Comming - misspellings, and grammatical errors

Pet Peeves, the Grammar Police, and the Grammar Vandal

It is times like these I wish the Grammar Vandal were around. This picture was taken at the Del Amo Fashion Center Mall in Torrance California, last week. I had not noticed this sign until a woman (who was pretty annoyed with the mistake), pointed it out to me as we walked by the store. How could this common misspelling of "Coming" go unnoticed and unchanged?

I've had my share of typos, and grammatical errors while writing blogs, and I could probably use a copy editor and proofreader, but that's just because I'm too lazy to proofread what I've written. Though blogs are pretty informal, a public display such as Brookstone in a highly trafficked area like a shopping mall, bad spelling and grammar is no excuse. Has societies laziness gone too far? I've been a fan of the Grammar Vandal, ever since first hearing about her on NPR, and her mission is a worthy cause. There's more mistakes out there than you'd think. There needs to be more people like her pointing out the errors of our language in print media, exposing the laziness that seems to get past the proofreaders and copy editors, if in fact any were used. In this case vandalism to correct the mistakes of others shouldn't be frowned upon, it should be applauded.

Some of my pet peeves include the use of 'your' rather than 'you're,' and 'per say' instead of 'per se.' Both are equally a pain to read. I think Brookstone should do something about this, as it misrepresents their brand and insults the intelligence of those passing by, including customers.

Coming Soon, Brookstone.

Checkout the Grammar Police, and the Grammar Vandal.

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