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Issue 12
July 2008
Imagine No Typos
In a recent issue, we at The Awkward Adverb expressed solidarity with a graffiti artist who turned a fast food "drive-thru" into a "drive-through" with a can of spray paint. While this grammarian most likely acted alone, a small group called the Typo Eradication Advancement League also takes a corrective approach to English-language eyesores.
Members of the group recently completed a road trip around the U.S. and identified numerous errors on public signs. They inserted missing apostrophes and covered up extraneous ones. They fixed misspellings and corrected capitalization. Whenever possible, they politely asked permission from a sign's owner before making changes. Roughly half of the people they approached gratefully accepted the help to improve their business's image, while others out of defensiveness or indifference preferred to leave mistakes intact—a position that the Typo Eradication Advancement League respectfully honored.
Their purpose wasn't to embarrass people. Rather, it was to help society work towards the imminent arrival of a glorious, typo-free world.
Source: TEAL
About this E-mail
The Awkward Adverb, an e-mail newsletter sent out once a month, highlights English-language flaws that have appeared on a sign, in print, on the Web, or anywhere in the public sphere. It may address grammatical errors, careless usage, bothersome buzzwords, punctuation problems, misspellings, or confusing writing in general.
Subscribers are encouraged to submit their findings for future editions of The Awkward Adverb by responding to this e-mail. Archived past issues of the newsletter are located here.
Henry Alpert, editor of The Awkward Adverb, is a New Orleans-based copywriter and business writer who works with businesses, ad agencies, and graphic design firms on a wide array of writing projects. For more information about his services, visit action-copy.com.
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