These clichés were wrong the first time we pointed them out, and they’re wrong now. By definition, destiny and fate are things that cannot be controlled.
There’s that bad comma splice again, you’d think they’d catch on by now, there has to be a period there, you knew that,
I’ll have the soup.
Which soup?
I said I’ll have the soup.
Which soup?
Aha! *
*(Cynics: No, soups weren’t further down or on the other side of the menu. Funny thing, the waiter said that, yes, they had soup. Chicken soup. Not as good as Eliot’s mother’s. Not in the same category.)
Did they mean the committee announced today that its final meeting will be Monday? Or that on Monday it will announce the date of its final meeting? We’re pretty sure it’s the first one. And we know the graphics operators have limited space. But this one needed work.
We presume these guys meant “shingle” and someone just made a typo. Just to be sure, we looked up ''smingle.” Found it in urban dictionary. It means “available for dating.” Might be one of this roofer’s services, but probably not.
And we go to the video archives for Segment 39: Lightning strikes again. https://youtu.be/8vgBB189QNY
Items before the Assizes:
Oyez, Oyez, Oyez! On the docket:
Loyal reader and occasional contributor Neal Horner respectfully submits for consideration: “My pet peeve is what I think is misuse of the term ‘reform’ or ‘reforms’ with regard to changes to laws. The press using the word ‘reform’ says it is generally accepted that the changes in law actually ‘improve’ the the law. Usually what is termed a ‘reform‘ is making it worse for many people, so ‘change’ would be a better, unbiased term to use instead of ‘reform.’"
The Horribly Wrong team would contend that reforms can be good or bad, but it’s only much later that such a conclusion can be made. Which means no matter how you feel about it, you can’t call it that now. We therefore CONCUR.
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong" features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police.” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, menus, TV news graphics, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
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NOTE: Eliot and Lou Ann are available for speaking engagements, and can travel. Reach us through the comments section. Just think of all of your employees getting back to work on a Monday, their heads filled with all the ways we’ve shown them to be better communicators!