An unfashionable error...

I think this was just a silly typo, but it kinda sounds like Engrish, doesn't it?

This error kinda makes me sad. I can't think of "flocks" without thinking of FLocke, and then I get a wee bit cranky that Lost is over (yes, I know, it's been over for 3 months now and I'm still whining about it--part of that is selfish sadness, because with Lost over I have no Major Writing-Related Inspirational Thing going on until Muse is in town, and that's not until freakin' October!). And then I get cranky that Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson were robbed of Emmys the other night. *sigh*

But in good news for us Losties, has anyone else seen the trailer for Machete? If you have, you may have noticed some familiar faces--Michelle Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, and Jeff Fahey are all in it. :) Can't wait for that!

I'm increasingly random/rambly today, so I'm going to a) do some work, b) go find a pretty picture of Joe Mauer to use as my computer wallpaper, c) do the "You Had Better Actually Get Some Freakin' Runs Tonight, Phillies" dance, or d) all of the above.

Thanks to fellow Lostie AMY for this picture, by the way! :)

FOODIE FRIDAY for August 27, 2010

You guys, I'm starting to get sad. It's almost September. Which is fine, really, but after September comes October, and after October, there's no baseball. And I know I have more than a full month left of regular season baseball and then a month of playoffs to watch, but I know the end of the season is coming...and I don't like it. So I'm trying to cheer myself up by snarkin' on crappy spelling.

This one's from KIM M. The word Denny's should have used is perishable. Oh, Denny's...this is not a Grand Slam of a sign. This is you striking out looking (but not, regrettably, at the dictionary).


(Why yes, clearly I can find a way to tie anything back to baseball...)

And this one's from WINONA. She says: My band, The Mugwumps, played at the Taste of Chicago (a RIDICULOUSLY fun and huge festival celebrating food and some music thrown in there, too) on June 29th. One of my bandmates had purchased food tickets in advance and also got a flier with a map of the food booths. Within the tag cloud graphic on the front, we found a big error... I'm meat-eating, so I'm not offended for that reason, at least.

So what am I hungry for on Foodie Friday? A Phillies win, goddammit! Low-calorie and immensely satisfying.

Have a happy weekend full of good food and/or good sports! :)

HUMP DAY GRAMMAR for August 25, 2010

So I was wandering around NYC with a friend on Saturday and saw this absolutely brilliant sign. I don't mean brilliant brilliant--I mean brilliant in its hilarity.

I immediately started making very predictable jokes about how if the psychic was really a good psychic, he (or she--what sort of gender might someone named "Young" be, exactly?) would have warned the sign-maker that he should be especially careful printing the word tarot because he was bound to forget the letter o. No such luck, apparently. If you want my opinion, this psychic's not even worth ten bucks!

Then I started making snarky little jokes about how a tart card reading will be able to tell you whether or not you're ever going to become a prostitute. My friend was confused. "You know, a tart?" I said. "Same thing as prostitute...hooker...harlot...hussy...etc." Well, he had no idea that "tart" could mean that. Just to make sure I wasn't crazy, I looked it up online, since you can always believe everything you read on the internet, right? Luckily dictionary.com is quite reputable, though, and it told me that yes indeed, "tart" can mean "prostitute or promiscuous woman." Also luckily, I knew I needed something for this week's Hump Day Grammar post, and this picture fit the theme quite nicely (hooray for good timing!). :)

Happy Hump Day, you wild and crazy kids!

HUMP DAY GRAMMAR for August 18, 2010

Oh, my. This little gem comes to us from LadyStyx. Sounds like Mr. Anti-Trespasser is kinda kinky, huh? Too bad he's more interested in innuendo than he is in proper spelling...

TO/TOO/TWO TUESDAY for August 17, 2010

YVIE, who submitted this picture, says, "I'd like to think that the author is trying to be witty by mirroring the homophone error from the sign in the article's title (steel is spelled properly elsewhere in the text), but I may be giving her a bit too much credit. Or perhaps they're using street slang? Stolen merchandise is considered 'hot' so... I guess steal domes would be hot. Hmm...no."

Yeah, I'm gonna second that "Hmm...no."

Thanks, YVIE, for spotting this one!

Fashion WIN...grammar FAIL!

How freakin' great does Betsey Johnson look at age 68? She's always wearing (and designing) the cutest stuff. More importantly, she always seems to be having fun! I adore Betsey (obviously, since I have a closet full of purses and dresses she designed...thank you, sample sales and outlet!).

But I do not adore the grammar in the above article. It's only an itsy-bitsy blurb, and look how many things this writer managed to screw up in such a small amount of space! Ugh.

FOODIE FRIDAY...plus baseball giddiness and some treats for the Losties!

Happy Foodie Friday! VANESSA, who sent in this picture, says, "My friend Angela found this sign near my neighborhood and snapped a picture. It makes me wonder--what exactly is on the menu at this little taco wagon?"

I'm wondering the same thing. And I think my male readers are wondering exactly where this little taco stand is...

In other news, I'm still on a bit of a baseball high from last night's Phillies/Dodgers game, but that doesn't mean I'm too hyperactive to spot screwy grammar...

(That should say "to topple the Dodgers," not "and topple the Dodgers." Sigh.)

For my fellow Losties:

* Have you heard that Weezer's new CD is going to be called Hurley...with a picture of Jorge Garcia (Hurley, of course!) on the cover? In honor of this, send your Hurley/Weezer fan art to the Spinner contest (click here for details). If yours is selected as being among the best, Rivers Cuomo (Weezer's singer) will sign and send you a copy of your artwork! Here's the artwork I submitted...

(Note the Dharma-turned-Weezer logo on Charlie's guitar case!)

* Michael Emerson ("Ben Linus") is turning 56 next month. The "What About ME?" blog is collecting birthday wishes from fans for Michael. Click here to submit yours.

* Also featured on "What About ME?": Michael's excellent interpretation of the Lost finale. (I'm copying/pasting it here for your convenience, but I highly recommend you go back and read the full article by clicking here.)

I can has preposition?

It's rare that a grammar geek would suggest putting a preposition at the end of a sentence, but in this case it's totally necessary (and since "to die for" is a figure of speech, I don't even think this counts as a dangling preposition, really...). This sentence is in dire need of a for. Unless the breakfast burgers are actually alive when they're brought to your room, and you get to kill 'em before you eat them--in which case, I suppose the sentence would be accurate (albeit gruesome) as it stands. ;)

HUMP DAY GRAMMAR for August 11, 2010

Heh. I think the debate is actually about the right to bare labia. This beaver is showing off her labia, not bringing it forth, holding it, carrying it, transmitting it, being entitled to it...etc.

Oh, Minnesota...while you do have a bit of a beaver problem on your hands, at least today you have a first-place baseball team, which is all kinds of awesome!

Happy Hump Day, you crazy kids!

TO/TOO/TWO TUESDAY for August 10, 2010

What might "Asian pairs" be? A set of twins born in Japan? Unless you're dining with Hannibal Lecter, you might want to see if you can select a different dessert...

Redundancy intolerance.

Really? Does that mean your body cannot properly digest a particular food? Are you sure about that...or do you want to say it just one more time for good measure? ;)

I have an intolerance, all right...for silly redundancies!

Where have I been...?

I know I haven't been writing here much lately. But I have been up to a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Writing three books (yes, three, and I'm really happy with how they're all going so far). Traveling (Baltimore, New Jersey...New York City more times than I can count...tons of baseball games...). Petting interesting creatures like rays, penguins, and gators. Screaming at attractive ballplayers and taking entirely too many pictures of their backsides. Sample sales. Being a wee bit obsessive around the trade deadline. Working (you know, that thing that keeps me from writing as much as I'd like to). And so on, and so forth.

But I'm back, and I hope to write here more frequently. Really. Promise!

And rest assured, one thing I haven't been slacking on is picking on a) crappy writing, b) baseball teams who aren't as cool as my Phillies or hot as my Twins, and c) any combination of the above. See the picture above for proof of this. "Or it may have begin anew." *sigh* Who's more goofy--the 2010 Mets or this silly writer?