Your Driving Me Crazy!

An email from the highest-ranking person at my workplace that went out to ALL employees, opened like this today:

Dear Employees, 

As your aware, we had a blood drive yesterday... 

​*facepalm* 

Just shoot me.

​Please.​

Yes, I know...it's an easy typo to make. And I would expect to see it all over Facebook, Twitter, comment threads at various websites, and in texts. But I hold journalists, executives, educators (and others who should know better) to a higher standard.

It takes less than a minute to proofread your email before hitting SEND. Such a small investment of time to avoid looking dumb.

What awful emails have you received from the "top dogs" at your company that made your head shake with grammatical disgust?

Weird Al, the Grammar Snob Loves You!

Why? Because of this:

That's all.

P.S. Pet writing-related peeve of the day:

People whose email signature line includes "Thanks," as an automatic sign off. Seriously. "Thanks" is not always the appropriate conclusion to your email message - it is not a universal closing, and can look pretty weird depending on the actual content of the email body. Also, it reeks of laziness and insincerity.

Thanks,
The Grammar Snob

Permanantly

Permanantly closed, eh?

This sign, on the wall of the old gym at my workplace (across the hall from my office), has a little problem. Unfortunately, it's permanant, since this sign isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

The best part, though? The little "e" that someone (not me) drew above the errant "a" on the sign. I love the fact that someone else in my workplace cares enough to engage in guerrilla proofreading.

Journalists Who Can't Write

It's an epidemic. And we're not immune here in the Beehive State.

Check out this double-whammy from the Deseret News. It wasn't enough that the photo caption read "For the second year in a year..." - which is a feat of chronological contortionism - but the lead sentence begins with a construction that's nearly as bad: "For the second year in a row..."

Sorry to break this to you, Deseret News, but two items do not make a "row." Three in a row, yes. Two in a row? Nope. That would be, "For the second year running..." or "For the second consecutive year.." or even "For the second straight year..." But...NO ROWS FOR YOU! Not until you have three items or more.

UPDATE: And......they did it again!