As mentioned in my previous post, we’re all used to finding examples of mangled English on product packaging from overseas.
But I was gob-smacked to find a dreadfully mangled sentence on a poster in a shop window at my local shopping centre.
Bear in mind this is not a hastily hand-written notice for a local garage sale! It’s a corporate advertisement for new reproductions of Mickey Mouse watches, produced by the Ingersoll and Disney companies.
The final sentence of the ad copy has no fewer than four errors in it! Not bad going for one sentence! :)
Though to be sure, the use of however … a ‘conjunctive adverb for the curious :) … means it should have been two sentences. Or at least utilised a semi-colon in the middle of the sentence instead of a comma.
That’s one mistake. As for the others …
2. A space has been left out between the words today’s and launch
3. An apostrophe used for a decade should be ’30s not 30’s (indicating the omitted numbers at the start)
4. And as for ‘phenomina‘? Good grief! Perhaps this should actually score as two errors. Phenomena is misspelled, but should actually be phenomenon anyway.
Apparently not one person spotted the mistakes. Obviously the original writer of the copy did not have grammar or spelling as particular strengths. :) But, given the fact this is a corporate production, we have to assume the poster’s content and design would have been approved by a string of managers, editors, and finally printers.
Where, oh where were the proof readers among them?
I will acknowledge the mangled English, although only the misspelling would have drawn any notice from me. Humor? Only to someone a retired English teacher or professional blog writer. :-)