Prices Right. Grammar Wrong.

This was another ad in Juice. It should read "Bring This Ad In For..." or "Mention This Ad For..." to be correct.

Grammatically Incorrect Night Out

This was an ad in Juice. It should read "Girls' Night Out" to be correct.

I Can Tell the Difference

For another one of my classes, we went on a field trip to a printing press. There were about 10 huge stacks of Hy-Vee posters like this one. They each had a name-brand product with its label peeling down, revealing the Hy-Vee brand underneath. All of the posters read: "If you can't tell the difference, why pay the difference" ... with no question mark! There were hundreds of posters! Maybe they meant to do that, but it bugs the crap out of me. I may only buy name-brand now.

Down Syndrome Senator

The first time I read this, I thought it was saying Catilin Cox, the "then-Illinois senator," grinned as she showed Obama pictures...and that Cox has Down syndrome. I was in disbelief that one of our senators had Down syndrome but then I reread it and quickly realized they were referring to Obama. I was skimming, but it is still worded tricky.

Here's the intro:

"When she met Barack Obama two years ago, Caitlin Cox proudly wore the two bronze medals she had won at the Special Olympics. The then-Illinois senator grinned as she showed him pictures of her signature bubble-gum-pink bowling ball and posed for photographs with her.

Cox, who has Down syndrome, excitedly recalls that meeting each time she sees Obama's photo on a magazine cover or hears him mentioned on TV."

Los Angles Times
Full Article Link
Despite the president's apology, athletes and others say they are disappointed with his remark on Jay Leno's show.
By Stacy St. Clair and John McCormick March 21, 2009

Dairy Queen

The Dairy Queen sign on Merle Hay Road said "SAVE $300 ON ANY CAKE"
They must have expensive cakes.

I'll try to go back and get a picture before they fix or change it.

Travelers Umbrella

I was doing research for an article and looked up the Travelers Insurance Company umbrella sign, which is in downtown Des Moines. On the Living Downtown Des Moines website, their title of their article reads, "Des Moines Landmark: The Traveler's Umbrella Sign."
It should be read, "Des Moines Landmark: The Travelers' Umbrella Sign" since the company spells their name "Travelers."

FULL ARTICLE

Thenewest

This was the centerfold of an article in Women's Health (March '09). The full article title was "IS WORKING OUT THENEWEST HEALTH THREAT." I read then reread the title trying to figure out what "thenewest" was. It didn't help that "thenewest" were the only letters printed in yellow. It sounds like a new navigational direction. I spread the centerfold as wide as it could (pictured) but the center is still eating part of the letters.

Metro&Iowa

cover of The Des Moines Register (3/2/09)

At first I noticed "Metro&Iowa" was not spaced correctly, but it is printed again like that again on the inside. But then I thought, if they are going to do that with "Metro&Iowa" they should keep the wierd no-spacing rule with "Business & Networking." But then I looked inside, and there is not even a "Business & Networking" section. It is just called "Business." Maybe they meant to do all this, but it's consistent and looks kind of sloppy.

Ny Cheesecake

I ate at Champp's last night and on the menu, they had "Ny Style Cheescake" (abbreviating New York). It should have been "NY Style Cheescake. "
Our waiter thought I was weird for taking this picture.

Jane Hoe UK

The Times-Delphic (2/16/09)

This picture isn't very clear. But at the bottom of Jane Hoe's poll box ("Have you ever had a threesome?"), she gives credit to her source: "Statistics from online community polling site, uk.toluna.com." That is a United Kingdom polling site- not very relevant to Des Moines or Drake.

Joe Hoe

"Jane Hoe" turned into "Joe Hoe" on the cover of The Times-Delphic (2/16/09).

Rolling Stone

The Rolling Stone does this all the time and it bugs me. They put a word (like Breaking or Preview) that is relevant to the article - right in the MIDDLE of the article! This might be design instead of editorial, but it distracts from the editorial. Without fail, I pause mid-sentence because of this big red roadblock. Its placement just doesn't make any since to me.

Conant's

"CEO nears 10-year goal to clean up a soupy mess"
By Bruce Horovitz
USA TODAY, January 26, 2009



The contraction Conant's is messy. I would leave off the 's and just write "Conant determined to take Campbell from 'bad' to best."

"You Found Me"

The Fray

LISTEN

"You never left me no messages
You never sent me no letters"

Should be:
"You never left me any messages.
You never sent me any letters."

"Soak Up The Sun"

Sheryl Crowe

LISTEN

This is a pretty grammatically incorrect song; but the lyrics that stick out to me the most are after the first chorus:

"I've got a crummy job
It don't pay near enough
To buy the things it takes
To win me some of your love"

"Don't" should be "doesn't" and "to win me some" is just bad.

Hearing Aids

This was an ad for hearing aids in the Des Moines Register. The first and third quotes do not have punctuation marks. Although they made up for it with one hundred other exclamation marks throughout the ad.

Black First Family

Black first family 'changes everything'
January 21, 2009
By John Blake, CNN

I can tell this article was written with good intentions, but I had a bad reaction to it. The writer is trying to say how Obama's family is good for the black family image. Instead he made it sound like Obama's family is the first clean, good-mannered black family in America. There is some truth in the article about how black families are portrayed in media; but the same can be said with all races. Here is the introduction:

Jamaal Young was watching Barack Obama and his family greet an ecstatic crowd in Chicago, Illinois, on Election Night when he realized that something seemed wrong.

President Obama and his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, greet the nation.

Obama didn’t shout at his wife, Michelle, to shut up. The first lady didn’t roll her eyes and tell Obama to act like a man. No laugh track kicked in, no one danced, and no police sirens wailed in the background.

Young had tuned in to celebrate the election of the nation’s first African-American president. But he realized that he was witnessing another historic first. A black family was being featured as the first family, not the “problem family” or the “funny family.”

“They are not here to entertain us,” says Young, a New York Press columnist. “Michelle Obama is not sitting around with her girlfriends saying, ‘My man ain’t no good.’ You’re not seeing this over -sexualized, crazy black family that, every time a Marvin Gaye song comes on, someone stands up and says, ‘Oh girl, that’s my jam.’ “

If I were the CNN editor I would have told the writer to make the point without degrading the rest of the black population. I also do not like the title wording.

FULL ARTICLE

Times-Delphic

On the Times-Delphic website, they are not consistent with their capitalization on the left column under "Options" and "Links."
They capitalize words like "Rules" and "Tips" in"Commenting Rules" and "Anonymous Tips." But they do not capitalize "press release" in"Submit a press release" or "blog" in "Times-Delphic blog."

www.timesdelphic.com

Thank's

I took this picture of a tip box on a parasailing boat in Cancun my freshman year. The driver made a good attempt at editing himself, but still needed to take out the apostrophe in "Thanks."

Hamster Murderer

I was not actually watching the news on TV when this happened, but I saw this on youtube and its too funny:

VIDEO

As an editor, I would say that the picture should not have been of a hamster.
I don't know how the news anchor kept a straight face.

Publisher

"Richard Seaver, Publisher, Dies at 82"
January 7, 2009
The New York Times

"The translator also went by a pseudonym, Sabine d’Estrée, whom some literary sleuths long suspected was Mr. Seaver, though he never admitted to it."

Whom should be who.

Full Article

Hall of Fame

"The Hall of Fame Unemployment Line"
January 21, 2009
The New York Times

This sentence needs to be separated into two different sentences or use a semicolon instead of a comma:
"He could have signed by now, he just wants a more significant paycheck to do so."

Full Article

Suicide Attempt

"DM businessman Ed Boesen dies after suicide attempt"
Des Moines Register
July 15, 2008

This sounds like someone killed Boesen after he failed to commit suicide. It is technically ok since an attempt is "to make an effort to do" (Merriam Webster), but its misleading since we usually referred to an attempt as something you tried but failed to do. But in this case Boesen was successful in his "attempt."

Full Article

Drake security

Drake security knows the limit.
Location: outside Drake security office