Some people do crossword puzzles to keep their minds sharp. I read the classifieds. No matter the publication, they are generally a good source of amusement. It always amazes me, when an ad is paid for by the word, why someone would write, “white in color.” Now really, what else would it be? I know law enforcement uses the phrase, “in color,” when they talk on the radio, perhaps for clarification.
Here is a good example that even the “big boys” don’t get it right: NY Times, Oct. 19, 2005 “At Last, Torre Visits the Boss, and Decides the Pinstripes Fit”
BY TYLER KEPNER
“Over and hourlong meeting, Yankees Manager Joe Torre and George Steinbrenner, the team’s principal owner, forged a ditente in their cold war.” The word the writer was attempting is spelled detente.
If the classifies are a reflection of the educational system in this country, the system is broken. Do people not care how words are spelled? Do they not know? Should the person taking the ad information correct the spelling? Is it a simple matter of being misunderstood over the telephone? Are they typos? Or do those employees not know any better either?
I tried to spell a word the same as it is presented in the classifieds but my computer spell checker wouldn’t let me. At least we may not be able to blame computers.
Do you recall asking an adult how to spell a word and the reply was, “Look it up.” That was a baffling response. If I knew how to spell it well enough to look it up, I wouldn’t have to look it up.
Recent ads have featured these doozies. Magaizine (magazine), medal (metal) bunk beds, armoir (armoire), due (dew) claws, attachement (attachment), sidey (side) by side refrigerator freezer, fereon (Freon), green stripped (striped) fabric, Brittney (Brittany). Is that the influence of the celebrity, Brittney Spears? Akita’s (possessive when they meant, Akitas, plural, no possessive.)
Synonyms may be the worst culprits. Remember those? They are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently. Say you see a sign on an auto repair shop that reads, “Breaks fixed here!” you might think twice about the accuracy of the claim. The correct spelling for that sign would be “brakes.” Or if a restaurant advertises “The Best Stakes in Town,” you might wonder if they serve wooden or metal stakes.
One of the most often misspelled words is a simple one, “its.” It was even misused in a recent Denver Post article and is not one that spell check would catch. The easiest was to remember is this: think his, hers, its. All of these are possessive and no apostrophes are involved.
The word “it’s” is a contraction for “it is.” When writing the solution may be to use it is, instead of it’s, at least until you get the hang of the correct usage.
When our sons were young, they spelled phonetically, though not “correctly,” yet we could understand their messages. Maybe there is something to that.
Sanders can be reached through peggy@peggysanders.com.
