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Your slip is showing By Randy A. Salas
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
(MCT) No one likes to be caught making mistakes, especially in print or in writing, but it sure is fun to read about them. That's why these Web sites are so compelling.
www.kidsmistakes.com
The Kids Mistakes site stems from the new book "When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Sturgeon." Author Gini Graham Scott solicited parents and teachers for funny mistakes that kids have made in writing and compiled them in the book, with many examples on the Web site. A related Web site (whenigrowup.wetpaint.com) has been set up to gather more entries for a future volume.
Oops: "Dear Ms._____, youo ar da best teecher i evere head."
—From a third-grade student
www.innocentenglish.com
Innocent English began as a companion site for the author's books that collect classic skewerings of the English language, but it has grown to become a catch-all humor site with jokes, funny photos and more. It feels like one big spam campaign, with loads of links and ads for personal finance, dating services and online degrees, but the laughs make it worth muddling through it.
Oops: "It takes many ingredients to make Burger King great but — the secret ingredient is our people."
— From a classified ad
www.regrettheerror.com
Editor Craig Silverman's Regret the Error blog is highly regarded as a watchdog for accuracy and honesty in the media. It chides news agencies that don't have an online corrections page and provides extensive links to newspaper corrections and ombudsmen, including the Star Tribune's. So it has a solid reputation and takes itself seriously — and its postings of actual newspaper flubs and corrections are an absolute hoot.
Oops: "Ian Boyd owns Compact Music, a CD store in the Glebe. Incorrect information appeared in a story on page E5 yesterday."
—Correction in the Ottawa Citizen
Silverman adds:
"Yeah, seems simple enough. Except the 'incorrect information' was that the paper quoted him referring to his 'CD' store as a 'seedy' store. — This correction is sorely lacking in context, and one would think an apology is in order."
www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/headlines
Jay Leno has been lampooning mistakes in newspapers and print ads for years with "Headlines," a weekly bit on "The Tonight Show" in which he holds up the printed gaffe to the camera for all viewers to see. NBC archives each week's routine on "The Tonight Show" Web site. The online version is clunky to navigate but worth the effort if you missed the show.
Oops: "Correction: Due to incorrect information received from the Clerk of Courts Office, Diane K. Merchant, 38, was incorrectly listed as being fined for prostitution in Wednesday's paper. The charge should have been failure to stop at a railroad crossing."
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Randy A. Salas is a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Do you have a favorite Web site or a question about how to find something on the Internet? Send a note by clicking here.
Best of the worst © 2006, Star Tribune Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. |
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