More than one Reese?

While I’m sure the blizzard is still great, Harry Burnett Reese might not like this sign. He was, after all, the one AND only one named Reese credited with creating the Peanut Butter Cup in 1928. That’s why the peanut butter cup has “Reese’s” on the package.

A ‘literally’ annoying top 10

Some Oxford University researchers recently “put their heads together” and compiled a top 10 list of irritating and overused phrases, some grammatically incorrect and others just plain annoying.

The list appears in a new book called “Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare.”

Here they are from the home office in Oxford, England.

1 – At the end of the day
2 – Fairly unique
3 – I personally
4 – At this moment in time
5 – With all due respect
6 – Absolutely
7 – It’s a nightmare
8 – Shouldn’t of
9 – 24/7
10 – It’s not rocket science

This is only “scratching the surface” of course. “Irregardless,” they “literally” need to be “avoided at all cost.”

Cross-posted at Tangzine

Us did it

Cross-posted at Tangzine

The Phillies winning the World Series on Wednesday rendered the “Why Can’t Us?” rallying cry useless, but the grammar-abusing fun isn’t over yet.

“Us Did It” and “Us Can” designs have already appeared on Cafe Press, but oddly enough there’s still no sign of “Yes Us Can.”

Why can’t us?

Cross-posted at the Tangzine blog

Back when the Phillies were last in the World Series, fans borrowed the “Whoomp there it is” slogan from the annoying song of the same name and sang it endlessly.

Now, fans are apparently latching on to the grammar-butchering phrase coined by a caller to sports talk radio.

I can almost hear the crazed fans in the ballpark in South Philly chanting it now.

(Hat tip: You Look Good In Black)

A mighty mite

What happens when a college student mixes up “mite” and “might” in an e-mail sent to a professor?

If the student goes to Kent State University, it ends up in a campus newspaper article.

I’d say that’s pretty embarrassing, though not quite as bad as having a student editor change the term “indie-rock” to “India-rock” in a record review. That happened to me in college and unlike this unnamed Kent State student, my name was typset in bold over the India-rock review.

That said, given the amount of grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors college newspapers are prone to make, I’m not so sure the students working at the Kent State paper want to open themselves up to the kind of criticism that is sure to follow the publishing of this article.

In fact, I rarely think criticizing someone for making an error in an e-mail, IM, blog or casual conversation is fair. I prefer to carefully point out mistakes because I know I have been guilty of butchering the English language from time to time, especially when I was still learning how to e-mail in college.

A confusing game of tag

Graffiti on an I-65 overpass in Louisville, Ky.

This certainly isn’t one you see very often in the land of your/you’re mistakes.

What a mavrick!

John McCain = The Mavrick.

(Hat tip, <a href=”http://www.pageonekentucky.com)

Vigilantes banned from national parks

In case you haven’t already heard, grammar and typo vigilantes Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson of the Typo Eradication Advancement League have been banned from national parks for a year and ordered to pay $3,000 to repair a sign they “corrected” in a Grand Canyon watchtower, according to The Arizona Republic. 

I’m not sure whether to applaud their activism or not.

I envy their courage for taking on the cause, but wonder if they’ve wandered a little too far into self-righteous public nuisance territory.

$525 heart attack

The White Castle in downtown Louisville.

No death here

It’s amazing the difference the letter E can make.

Rather than warning laundry customers against tie-dyeing their shirts, this Wilmore, Ky., laundromat has inadvertently placed a ban on death.

Photo submitted by a loyal reader. Thanks, Mike.