21 November 2008

Who hsa time too prufread?

Let me start by saying you can't imagine how difficult it was to type out that title, and how painful it is for me to let it sit there as it is.

Now that I have your sympathies, I'll continue.

When I mentioned J-'s seemingly disastrous t-shirt purchase at the Obama rally in Grant Park, there was at least one request to see the offending shirt, and I'm nothing if not accommodating. 

Here is the front image, which as I said is interesting and unique enough, and actually impressive given the price:

Obama rally shirt - Obama as Action HeroI should jump in here to note that to compound my coming complaints, the salesman apparently misheard J-'s request and gave her an extra large shirt, so it's wide enough for the whole family to proudly wear at once.

And now, I forewarn you to choke back your vomit before continuing, because if you're like me, you may not be able to handle seeing the reason why it was only $5 without exerting tremendous self-control:

Obama rally shirt - Shirtmaker as F*** Tard
You know what my "New Hope" is? That sometime before the end of the Reign of Man, we will finally finish evolving enough that before even an everyday-schmo-just-trying-to-make-some-extra-money-capitalizing-on-his-fellows'-exultant-willingness-to-collect-memorabilia places an order for a few thousand t-shirts, he can manage to at least ask someone with a fresh eye to look over the design just once.*

And if we could keep things going enough to not make such errors on this tiny selection of text in the first place, that would just be icing. Right now, the only icing on this s***cake is the inexplicable use of a comma after the abbreviation of the month.

You may think I'm overreacting, but I don't know any other way to be. Life's too short to underreact to things like this. Plus, I've spent years of my life being paid to mercilessly deride people for boneheaded mistakes like this, so it's a hard habit to break.

Full Disclosure: That wasn't necessarily spelled out in my job descriptions, but it was always clearly encouraged. Or tolerated. Or quietly marveled at, in fear. Either way, it definitely seems called for here, because there's no red pen in the world that can wash this tragedy away.



* Barring that, maybe in this hypothetical nearly perfect world, the printer would notice the error and, since it's not his job to alter the design of his clients' orders, he would just print up a single shirt that says YOU ARE AN IDIOT - TRY AGAIN (SOMEWHERE ELSE).

28 comments:

unmitigated me said...

I'm pretty sure this shirt started life as a promo for the 1977 Star Wars film, later called Episode 4. LukeAPalooza?

First!

Rikki said...

That is BAD. Being married to an English teacher I get crap about my run-ons, fragments and my overall comma whoriness. That said, I am pretty sure that shirt would make his eyes bleed.

Michael from dadcation.com said...

I agree. And shouldn't "happen" be in the past tense? Yes, it should be.

Lacey said...

That shirt has all the "new hope" of a really, really bad toothache.

Mrs. B. Roth said...

I am awlyas amaezd at the hmuan mnid's alibity to fix the mitsaeks beofre we are even arwae. Gud pruffers haf to override that intsnict and sea tghins how they relaly are, glraing and wrnog.

Tehy have too let tehm sveles bee bthored by ipmefrecoitn. Smoe pepole are annyoed wehn otehr's piont out thier shrot comnigs - I preefr to bug the perfekshunist.

Anonymous said...

My eyes, my eyes. It hurts my eyes.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I followed you over here from BHJ - first time visit to your blog. I've seen your handle around, and thought, 'I've never literally visited LiteralDan.'

Great post!

thegirlof510 said...

There's the comma mistake, and then the whole "I was here when change HAPPEN" thing, which is far more disgusting than the comma bit if you ask me.

Kevin McKeever said...

Obama is a man of the people, even the ones who ca'nt spel, punchuate or grammeratize. You know, like George W.

God Bless America.

Jenny Grace said...

Nah, that's 100% grammatically correct. And since typing doesn't convey tone, you'll NEVER KNOW if I'm being sarcastic or not.

Anonymous said...

as a former English Teacher: this is killing me!

Kori said...

I refuse to shop in a grocery store where the sign our front advertising things is spelled wrong. So this-between the "happen" and the comma-would send me over the edge.

Renee said...

I'm going to be editing this in my mind all day. My first step is to come up with a better word than "Happen" because oh my word, that is annoying.

Petra a.k.a The Wise (*Young*) Mommy said...

Well, I am an editor myself so stuff like that CHAPS MY ASS like you wouldn't believe.

Dude, he could have paid me like 20 bucks to take a gander at it and make it not look like a 4-year-old wrote it...

Goldfish said...

Former copy editor here, shuddering. And laughing. And you know what? I find at least one typo a day in my blog. And each time I die a little inside.

beth said...

I heard that adding the "ed" onto the word happen was going to put the t-shirt into the next price range, so I'm sure that's the only reason the seller mixed his tenses in such an offensive way.

Andrea said...

Whaaaaat? I don't get it. Nothin wrong wid that shirt.

Bwhahahah!

Anonymous said...

Oh, LD, don't be so hard on the guy. In order to cut his overhead, he probably ordered the shirts from the same place that does the translating on the little paper chopstick sleeves!

Please, take joy in you unique of wearing Tunic of happy change!

Unknown said...

Okay my new favorite line has GOT to be "Life's too short to underreact to something like this."

I'm using it in my real life whenever I get the chance...

Aracely said...

I have time to pruf read! I often offer edits for the posts I read (specifically the Foodies). I often wonder if it bothers the writer, but I figure correcting a blogger spelling/grammar is the equivalent of telling someone they have Spinach in their teeth.

Motherhood Uncensored said...

Knowing your editing skillz, I imagine this really pains you.

Or should I say "really pain you"

heh.

Vodka Mom said...

oh sweet jesus, that hurt. my eyes. and my brain.

Mrs4444 said...

As far as I'm concerned, the end of the world is near, and that t-shirt confirms it. How much worse can it get?! LOL

Sally HP said...

I must read, publish, re-read and re-publish my posts about 5 times. If there is still an error, I would love for someone to comment, because it's certainly something I notice on other people's. Oh, and traffic signs! "Drive Careful" (how about carefully?)...oh well.

Lacey in the Sky said...

That would drive me insane! Ughh... ignorant.

Ali said...

I was so focused on the word 'happen' I shamefully missed the comma. Maybe that was their plan?

The Stiletto Mom said...

You no like? I likes the tshirts that says the clever thing. I does like them a lot.

And yes, I hurt myself writing that. Ouch.

Irrational Dad said...

Give the man some credit. At least he said something more original than "I went to Obamapalooza, and all I got was this stupid t-shirt."