# Newspaper typos



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

distraut in the Star today



> Tony Jackson testified that a distraut Richard Wills came to his apartment and said to him: "Tony, throw me over the balcony. Linda is dead. He said, 'Kill me.' "


CTV had about 3 in the same short column 

Anyone else noticing an increase lately????


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## ErnstNL (Apr 12, 2003)

I've noticed the occasional spelling mistake for the past few years. Whether it's increasing in frequency? I hope not.
It's not uncommon in our Evening Telegram in St. John's. I don't read any other papers like the Globe or Post very often.


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## MacGYVER (Apr 15, 2005)

YES!!!!!!

Toronto Start, K-W Record, National and many more across Canada. It's like they never even try to use a spell checker or proof read their articles anymore. Time is money and so it doesn't matter anymore, it is actually accepted world wide. Plus I come across the following error where they accidentally typed the word twice for example: Thethe sky is blue. 

In today's business spelling no longer matters. Corporations right down to the small mom and pop businesses don't care about spelling.
I see the following spelling errors all the time:

1. Faxes - spelling means nothing
2. Resumes - companies accepting resumes with spelling errors
3. Advertising - This includes internal documents, brochures, media type, just about any form of advertising out there on this planet accepts spelling errors
4. Company letter heads
5. E-mail has to be the worst one yet
6. Text messaging
7. Any form of instant messaging
8. Newspapers
9. Government documents
10. Education

It frustrates me to see that nobody cares anymore about spelling, when you show them that they made an error, they just shrug it off and act like it is no big deal. 

I guess Microsoft's Word and all the other word processors programs got rid of their spell check option? It sure seems like that at times.


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## Beej (Sep 10, 2005)

MacGYVER said:


> when you show them that they made an error, they just shrug it off and act like it is no big deal.


Is it a big deal?


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

"It's not uncommon in our Evening Telegram in St. John's." ErnstNL is getting nostalgic for the good old days. The Evening Telegram is now The Telegram, with a new owner and a new look. Still the same amount of spelling errors as always, but with a different font.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

MacGYVER said:


> I guess Microsoft's Word and all the other word processors programs got rid of their spell check option? It sure seems like that at times.


If you follow Word's advice at all times, your documents will be riddled with spelling, grammar, usage, syntax and punctuation errors. This is surely part of the problem: many people assume that Word is able to catch all errors and doesn't flag false positives. It can't and it does. 

It can help find some obvious typos, but there's no substitute for proofreading with brain and pen.


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

In the digital age that we live in, typos have certainly become more accepted in the general media and corporate settings. I'd say this has recently proliferated with things like IM, email, and web forums, where people feel they don't have to use a spell checker, or worry about spelling and punctuation. Once it starts with the younger generation, it just spreads...

I almost always double check the spelling in my web posts and emails, and I will often edit a post if I later find a spelling or grammatical error.


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## MacGYVER (Apr 15, 2005)

Beej,

Yes, it is a big deal.

What kind of respected company would you be, if you constantly had spelling errors in your advertisements? or letter heads? or faxes? or E-mails? I probably would not do much business with you and move on to someone who takes things more seriously.

Spelling is like basic math. Today, you can even cheat with spelling when you use a computer by using the built in spell check option. I would say 99.99% of anything that is printed (media, faxes etc.) is accomplished by using a computer. So, there should be no excuse to keep spelling the word (recieve) instead of receive. We have tools to help those that can't spell, and yet, they don't use them. We have tools to help those save time when they type, it only takes a few seconds to scan a document for spelling errors, once you're done. Another few minutes to correct the errors. Plus, what ever happened to people's pride and professionalism in business? Did we throw it out 20 years ago?

I guess in North America it is acceptable to run a business no matter how small or big and just be relaxed in knowing that even if you can't spell, or use a spell checker, that you are still highly respected in the community. The problem is, it goes much deeper than just spelling. To me a company who doesn't care, is a company that could be too sloppy at many other things. I start to wonder if they are careless in spelling, what else could go wrong if I deal with this company? Paper work gone missing? Shipping papers messed up? Accounting problems? and the list goes on.

You can tell a lot about a company just by how careless they are when it comes to advertising and that is just the tip of the ice berg.


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## Beej (Sep 10, 2005)

Mac, with the following list:

1. Faxes - spelling means nothing
2. Resumes - companies accepting resumes with spelling errors
3. Advertising - This includes internal documents, brochures, media type, just about any form of advertising out there on this planet accepts spelling errors
4. Company letter heads
5. E-mail has to be the worst one yet
6. Text messaging
7. Any form of instant messaging
8. Newspapers
9. Government documents
10. Education

And no sense of frequency, I would argue against it being a big deal. A top-notch candidate that has one spelling error in their resume? Not a big deal, as one example. An interesting idea in an email with a spelling error? Not a big deal. I agree with you in the general sense that spelling errors can signal a lax attitude, but they can also just be a meaningless error that, if over-emphasised, can lead to bad decisions by someone too focussed on what is not important.


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## MacGYVER (Apr 15, 2005)

iMatt said:


> If you follow Word's advice at all times, your documents will be riddled with spelling, grammar, usage, syntax and punctuation errors. This is surely part of the problem: many people assume that Word is able to catch all errors and doesn't flag false positives. It can't and it does.
> 
> It can help find some obvious typos, but there's no substitute for proofreading with brain and pen.


I will agree with you on the above to some point. Newspapers have what is called an editor after you have written something, so it actually gets read by two sets of eyes before print. So, I guess what we are saying is that nobody at these newspapers can spell or read?


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

MacGYVER said:


> I will agree with you on the above to some point. Newspapers have what is called an editor after you have written something, so it actually gets read by two sets of eyes before print. So, I guess what we are saying is that nobody at these newspapers can spell or read?


I'm not intimately familiar with the newspaper business, but as a reader I'd guess that copy editing and proofreading have been steadily devalued over the years. Not to the extent that the people doing those jobs can't read or spell, but that they're being asked to do more and do it more quickly, and wind up making more frequent mistakes as a result. They probably also over-rely on Word, like people in many fields.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

Lead story on the Globe's website right now is about the Cadman Affair. According to the lede, the story is about alleged "influence pedalling."

Uh, yeah. Ride that influence, baby.


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

In fairness all the proofing nowadays is done on the screen. I know I can read something 3 or 4 times before printing it. As soon as it's printed the typos magically appear.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

I notice a few spelling and grammar mistakes in The Star once in a while, but it doesn't particularly bother me. No one's perfect.  (It would be bother me more if such mistakes were fairly regular, which they don't appear to be.)


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## EvanPitts (Mar 9, 2007)

For myself, I use a pretty good word processor, and have the appropriate dictionaries for my writing; and I still catch errors once I print something out. I suppose it is the nature of the beast. I know that my keyboard on my iBook occasionally will skip a letter, something that I do not have when I use a full sized keyboard.

I find that the EhMac editor lags when I am running Azureus - JavaScript leads to some funny errors which are not rendered on my own screen until I post the message. Perhaps one day I will have a newer and quicker machine.

As for newpapers, they really do not have any writers anymore. It is all canned news, so one typo ends up on fifty or a hundred papers. Plus, most newspapers are published for the morning and as such, are becoming quite irrelavant for anything other than advertizements and obituaries. A few times a year, The Spectator puts something in their editorials about trying to become more grammatically and spelling correct - then they fire the Editor.

There are many Websites that have attrocious spelling - lucky I can always pop instantly to somewhere else. Resumes should have no errors, but if there is a typo, it should not be used against the candidate. However, there should actually be sentences - places these days all suggerst quickie point form resumes that really say nothing...


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

Picked up a copy of a high end magazine geared towards well-heeled flying enthusiasts last summer (don't recall the name). Great photography, expensive glossy paper, a real top notch feel to it.

I was browsing the ads and found one with a spelling mistake. I don't recall the exact error, but it cheapened the experience of the whole magazine. I thought, you've gone to all the expense & hard work to produce what is otherwise a publication with a very luxurious feel to it and can't be bothered enough to correct a spelling mistake?

Before I saw the mistake, I would have rated the magazine a solid 10/10. Afterwards I wouldn't have gone higher than 8.5. It was that glaring of an error.

Unacceptable in any day or age where the publications hits the print or digital news stands.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

When computerization arrived in the newspaper industry, and along with it the "spell checker," the proofreader was often the first casualty in the newsroom.

That was the beginning of the end as far as typos go. We all know a spell checker can't distinguish between "their and there".

But that was a sacrifice senior management was willing to make in their quest for the almighty dollar.

Then came pagination and the composing rooms rapidly disappeared and all the production work fell on the shoulders of the deskers in the newsroom. They were now faced with doing the work of three people each shift, the proofreader, the compositor and their own duties.

The papers subsequently made money and lost accuracy.

And that's the way it is folks.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

HowEver said:


> I feel your pain.


Yep, amazing what an extra letter "s" can do. 

It's fixed, thanks.


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## titans88 (Oct 3, 2007)

The Ottawa Sun is riddled with errors! Although it is not my newspaper of choice, I read it when I have the chance.


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## Rock Lobster (May 15, 2002)

HowEver said:


> I feel your pain.


This guy feels your pain as well.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

SINC said:


> Yep, amazing what an extra letter "s" can do.
> 
> It's fixed, thanks.


Not quite. "Proofreader" is one word.  

Your point about staffing priorities changing with technology is well taken, though, and I think the era of online news is driving publishers to lower the bar even further.

Some papers clearly strive to maintain a modicum of quality, but even the better ones fail to keep it high in every section. The Globe, for example, puts its best foot forward in the front section of the print edition (plus Focus on Saturdays), with everything else showing varying degrees of attention to detail. The website is clearly the lowest priority, as it's a repository of semi-literate howlers, idiotic headlines ("Bettman to testify on steroids" is a recent fave) and material apparently posted without the benefit of a second set of eyes.

The mistake that prompted me to revive this thread was fixed within a couple of hours, BTW and FWIW. No idea whether it made it into the print edition.


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## Black (Dec 13, 2007)

Rock Lobster said:


> This guy feels your pain as well.


You just made my day. I can't stop laughing and repeating '**** an 8 point buck' hahaha.


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

According to today's Montreal Gazette, Clarence Thomas plays sax for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

I look forward to reading Clarence Clemons' Supreme Court rulings.


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## Brainstrained (Jan 15, 2002)

A site I occasionally visit:

Regret the Error » Mistakes Happen


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## Fink-Nottle (Feb 25, 2001)

In the UK The Guardian is notorious for typos... and is sometimes referred to as 'The Grauniad' after it totally misspelled its own name. There's also a story, although I think it's apocryphal, that they reported that 'Queen Victoria graciously pissed over Westminster bridge'.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

Beej said:


> I agree with you in the general sense that spelling errors can signal a lax attitude, but they can also just be a meaningless error that, if over-emphasised, can lead to bad decisions by someone too focussed on what is not important.


This is certainly true (by the way, it's spelled focused, not focussed), but when accuracy in communication is YOUR JOB (ie a newspaper or similar), then to be inaccurate in your job can cost dearly. For starters, when a reader picks up on a typo in a story they are reading, their whole BRAIN shifts. They STOP ingesting the story and start HUNTING for the next typo.

Just the addition or subtraction of a insignificant little comma can make a huge difference in MEANING. To wit:

(i)Spare him, not kill him. - Not to kill.

(ii)Spare him not, kill him. - To kill.

That's definitely a "little typo" I'd want to avoid on a letter from the governor if I'm sitting on death row! 

But more than being anal-retentive about accuracy in communication, accepting typos in professional communications signals an _acceptance of mediocrity_. If your doctor is operating on you, do you care if he makes a few (non-fatal) "little slips," or would you prefer he work as close to perfectly as humanly possible?

Just because people can't often achieve perfection doesn't mean they should cease striving for it. Accuracy and attention to detail is what separates the professionals from the amateurs. If someone was applying to me for the job of a reporter on a city paper and had mistakes in his resume, I most certainly WOULD reject his application and tell him exactly why I did. You can bet he'd never make that mistake again ...


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

iMatt said:


> According to today's Montreal Gazette, Clarence Thomas plays sax for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
> 
> I look forward to reading Clarence Clemons' Supreme Court rulings.


That would be a huge improvement ... 

ps. That level of mistake is not a typo, of course, it's a factual error, or more technically, a "brain fart." :lmao:


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## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

chas_m said:


> ps. That level of mistake is not a typo, of course, it's a factual error, or more technically, a "brain fart." :lmao:


Oh, I know. And I do respect the fact that the reviewer was covering a concert that ended at around 10:45 p.m. Sunday for a Monday morning paper and managed to make it sound as though he didn't write the story until it was all over, though he probably filed it a bit before the end.

Still a bit disappointing coming from a seasoned music journalist. 

And funny as hell. 



> This is certainly true (by the way, it's spelled focused, not focussed), but when accuracy in communication is YOUR JOB (ie a newspaper or similar), then to be inaccurate in your job can cost dearly. For starters, when a reader picks up on a typo in a story they are reading, their whole BRAIN shifts. They STOP ingesting the story and start HUNTING for the next typo.


"Focussed" is uncommon, but an acceptable variant. (IIRC it's standard at the New Yorker, for one.)

But your point here is a great one. I think it sums up why some of us hate typos so much. I really, really hate making them in my own work but they do still slip through occasionally despite my best efforts. I certainly don't envy newspaper people the pressure of putting out reams of clean, accurate copy on tight deadlines.


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