|
Post by tigger on Feb 13, 2014 1:32:09 GMT -5
English is a complex and beautiful language. At least it is to me.
As we edge closer and closer to the February Hallmark holiday referred to as St Valentine's Day, the commercial outlets are pushing hard to get you to spend your Valentine dollars on their product.
While this practice disturbs me on many levels, I generally remain silent in my disapproval of the whole Valentine activity. This year, an egregious commercial has disturbed my usual tolerance.
I can't call out the specific commercial but will mention that there are teddy bears involved. My issue is not with the product, however, but with the voice-over.
Am I the only person who has discovered that there is not one single "m" in the word Valentine?
If the voice-over clown is to believed, the answer to that painfully obvious question is "YES".
In a fit of pre-holiday airtime purchasing, the sellers of this particular bear show up easily every hour and often many times in an hour of programming. What do I know about the product? The voice-over guy can't read. There is no "m" in Valentine!
Why am I ranting? I hear it every single time the commercial is aired. Like many ADHDers, I have been trained to be very exact in anything I put out into the world. To my knowledge it has NEVER been "ValenTIMES Day!
In a personal note to people in Vermont selling absurdly oversized teddy bears, I suggest that you find a voice-over guy capable of pronouncing the words in the copy as they are written. My $0.02
The question I pose to you here is, "Do you ever find yourself irritated by stuff like this?"
|
|
|
Post by Amtram on Feb 13, 2014 9:51:45 GMT -5
Yes. When I remember, I also carry a sharpie marker in my pocket to correct the presence or absence of apostrophes in signs. This makes me nuts, because it's so easy to remember.
You know what else makes me crazy? "Third Wheel." IT'S FIFTH WHEEL, PEOPLE! Can you think of items that benefit from the presence of a third wheel? Why yes, plenty. Therefore a third wheel is not superfluous, which is what the expression is meant to convey. Can you think of anything that would benefit from a fifth wheel? No. (An attached fifth wheel. The spare tire doesn't count.)
|
|
dotty
New Member
amiably eccentric
Posts: 40
|
Post by dotty on Feb 13, 2014 12:01:48 GMT -5
It used to annoy me to no end that newscasters would switch tense in the middle of a story. I just browsed the web sites for our local news stations and can't find any examples, so maybe someone finally took note of how stupid it sounded - and what a bad example it was setting for our children.
|
|
|
Post by tigger on Feb 13, 2014 13:03:02 GMT -5
I have but three words- their, there, and they're. These are real words with different meanings. Why do so many people abuse them?
And another one- irregardless. "Ir" modifies "regardless" and in this case, improperly. Grr!!!
And a final- you CAN'T "boldly go" You CAN "go boldly". In short you must identify the action before you can modify the action.
I'll make a bet that I am the only person on my street (and possibly state) that can diagram a sentence...
|
|
|
Post by owling on Feb 19, 2014 16:30:08 GMT -5
That awkward moment when people from non-English speaking countries write better on forums than people from the US, UK, Australia etc (especially from the US...). Then again, ADHD can be a big cause of misspelling, not to mention dyslexia, so I don't think it's very fair to judge people on this. But for someone to make such a mistake in a commercial, I find it odd. Maybe it's a marketing strategy. It definitely got people talking,
|
|
stef2
New Member
Posts: 12
|
Post by stef2 on Apr 26, 2014 9:15:15 GMT -5
arrrghh don't get me started! I hate how so many newsites use "simple" language. I'm thinking of CNN. It`s like they have to "dumb everything down" because people are texting so much they just want short words and simple expressions.
The same thing happens in French. and there are a lot of signs with grammar mistakes.
|
|
|
Post by Amtram on Apr 30, 2014 6:52:39 GMT -5
Just remembered another. It's "Voila!" It's not "Viola" or (hold me back. . .) "Walla!"
|
|