About Terribly Write

March 17, 2008 — Laura

With the billions and billions of pages floating out there in the Web galaxy — and the billions and billions of words they contain — it’s no surprise that you’ll notice an occasional typo or grammatical slip. But, every typo, misspelling, wrong word, and punctuation misstep erodes the credibility of a website.

42 Comments »

42 Responses to “About Terribly Write”

  1. Gary Korb Says:
    June 26, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    Hi Laura,
    Stumbled upon your blog via a Google alert with the headline, “Close but no cigars.” As a professional copywriter, myself, I find your site is very informative. I’ll be coming back. I’m also going to pass it on to our proofreader.
    Thanks,
    Gary Korb

  2. Old Man Says:
    July 8, 2008 at 12:36 pm

    Very interesting site. I can’t wait to check it every day for some new offense against the language. I’ve passed the link on to other writers I know.

  3. universitydiary Says:
    July 16, 2008 at 9:10 am

    I’ve just come across your blog – largely because I just wrote an entry about apostrophes in my own blog: http://universitydiary.wordpress.com

    Excellent blog – so few people can understand grammar now…

  4. Michele Says:
    July 28, 2008 at 9:19 am

    Woohoo! Laura has a blog now! It’s about time. Definitely bookmarking this — dare I email the URL to the Yahoo! Today Module programmers? ; )

  5. T-bat Says:
    July 28, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    You’re a cruel, cruel, but incredibly correct person ;-) I live in dread of the day something I’ve written shows up here! (Thank the gods I don’t work on Shine; well, I’m glad about that in general, heh). Keep on truckin’!

  6. Kar Says:
    July 28, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    Finally, a blog devoted to the most pressing issue of our — or at least my — day: The uses and abuses of language online. I am addicted to Terribly Write. (Is that so wrong?)

  7. Boss (not yahoo) Says:
    July 28, 2008 at 3:14 pm

    Oh, dear! Keep it up. And remember, as I edited last week, riesling is i before e, sangiovese doesn’t have extra anything but fruit (no additional s, accent etc) and Médoc does have an accent and plenty of chutzpah.
    And we couldn’t say “cheers” without wine.

  8. Boss (not yahoo) Says:
    July 28, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    Darn, I forgot the ! Yahoo!

  9. Dallas Willcox (Simply Words Editing Services) Says:
    July 29, 2008 at 4:08 am

    Excellent blog! Perhaps some of your readers would be interested in joining the new ‘Spelling, punctuation and grammar’ group on Facebook.

  10. dao Says:
    August 20, 2008 at 10:33 am

    Laura. I <3 you and your blog. I’ve spent some of the precious hours I have between classes and reading pestering the Y! editors about their typos. Don’t even get me started on the Olympic “coverage.”

    /me cringes at the thought.

  11. curious Says:
    October 8, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    Are you the copyeditor that got let go by yahoo? If so this blog makes a lot more sense. I mean who has the time or the will to do this?

  12. Laura Says:
    October 8, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    Dear curious,
    No, I am not a copyeditor who was let go by Yahoo!. Surprisingly it takes very little time to post entries to this blog each day. Anyone who visits Yahoo! can spot the minor and major errors very quickly. And many of the slip-ups reported on Terribly Write are sent to me by my loyal readers.

  13. Jerry Yang Says:
    October 8, 2008 at 10:54 pm

    I hope you are getting paid for all this work because otherwise it seems like a sad existence to just look for errors within the Yahoo! sites. We should hire you since you clearly are doing a better job than our own editors.

  14. Old Man Says:
    October 10, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    Hey, I’m a fan of TW and I don’t imagine it’s either a huge time expenditure or a sad existence. Every so often I learn something new about writing or grammar from TW. Teaching people about the English language through examples is interesting and in no way sad. And it can’t take too much time because Yahoo! is such a huge source of errors that finding them must be incredibly easy.

    If I thought you were the REAL Jerry Yang, I might point out that a really sad existence might be acting as a failing CEO of a failing company.

  15. Simply curious Says:
    October 11, 2008 at 10:32 pm

    Just trying to understand your motivation here. You left Yahoo! yet choose to devote a decent amount of time and effort to monitoring the site. A sense of duty to your former employer? Inability to let go of old habit? Glee at the failings of your diminished editorial team? You are clearly a skilled editor with a sharp eye, but your enthusiasm for doing this feels somewhere between puzzling and disconcerting.

  16. Old Man Says:
    October 12, 2008 at 10:04 am

    Dear curious/Simply curious/whatever other troll handles you use: Just trying to understand your motivation here. You are clearly a Yahoo! employee, yet you choose to devote a decent amount of time and effort to monitoring the TW site and questioning the motives of the blogger. A sense of duty to your employer? Embarrassment at the publicizing of your mistakes? A desire to put down someone who’s trying to educate people about good writing? Your enthusiasm for doing this feels somewhere between puzzling and disconcerting.

    I don’t presume to speak for the blogger, but I see (and appreciate) this site for what it is: an attempt to teach grammar and writing skills through correction of bad examples. The choice of Yahoo! as the source of bad writing examples seems apt, as it restricts the search for errors to a single error-rich site and saves time.

    Perhaps you should spend less time questioning the motives of the blogger and more time questioning the skills of the writers and editors whose work is displayed on the site (yourself included, I would presume).

  17. Old Man Says:
    October 15, 2008 at 10:43 pm

    It’s one thing to educate people about good writing, and another to fixate on the site where you used to work. Why not find examples from all over the InterWeb? The Yahoo! focus casts a blemish on otherwise great work.

    And no, this troll doesn’t work at Yahoo! anymore.

  18. Laura Says:
    October 15, 2008 at 11:09 pm

    Dear Fake Old Man,

    As the Real Old Man has said, “The choice of Yahoo! as the source of bad writing examples seems apt, as it restricts the search for errors to a single error-rich site and saves time.”

    May I suggest that if you choose to enter comments in the future, you enter them using an original alias and not one of a loyal reader of Terribly Write. I wouldn’t want others to think that the Real Old Man feels that a “blemish” is being cast on “otherwise great work.” Clearly he does not.

    But, thanks for identifying yourself as a troll. It helps readers understand your true motivations.

  19. Old Man Says:
    October 16, 2008 at 9:05 am

    This the genuine Old Man, and I am speaking to the troll who think it’s cute to copy my name:

    If you want to talk about fixations, I suggest you work really hard on your obsession with the blogger’s motives. If you really think this is “great work,” you shouldn’t worry about where the examples come from – only about the lessons they teach.

    But you’ll excuse me if I find your statements less than convincing. Anyone who changes his/her posting name as frequently as you do and copies the names of others hasn’t got a claim to much credibility.

  20. Jerry Yang Says:
    October 19, 2008 at 4:09 pm

    laura, i love the humor in your headlines. very clever.

  21. Anonymous Says:
    October 29, 2008 at 9:23 pm

    The copy editors at Yahoo! might be getting laid off. Is this good or bad for all the errors you catch?

  22. muah Says:
    October 30, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    anonymous: who says the copy editors might be getting laid off from yahoo!? yang and co. haven’t announced yet exactly who will be affected by the layoffs. if they know what’s good for them, they’ll keep the copy editors around — they’re obviously much-needed.

  23. Professor Plum Says:
    December 4, 2008 at 10:34 am

    So sorry I missed the trolls.

    I agree with the real Old Man. It’s a great value to have real examples of errors pointed out, regardless of the source of those errors. Yes, it shows a certain lack of talent and care among writers of those examples. Generally, when someone finds errors in my writing, I’m glad to have the feedback. Improving is part of my job as a writer and editor. So is thick skin.

  24. muah han shien Says:
    December 16, 2008 at 10:57 pm

    As a copy editor at Google, I can see why Yahoo! is failing. Because of the culture of paranoia that sites like this provoke!

  25. Carlos Says:
    December 17, 2008 at 3:35 am

    Howdy. I stumbled over here by way of a blog I frequent, Grammar in the Media (http://grammarinthemedia.blogspot.com/), and thought I’d say hello.

    I like your blog, and am going to link it to mine. Oh, and I’ll be using the previous commenter’s comment as my next entry ;-)

  26. Old Man Says:
    December 17, 2008 at 10:18 am

    I understand the “culture of paranoia” at Yahoo! is so bad that some of its employees have taken to posing as Google copy editors before posting on this site. :)

  27. Old Man Says:
    December 20, 2008 at 1:05 am

    It is obvious that most of these comments are made up by the owner of the blog, by grumpy Yahoo! employees, or by people with too much time on their hands. And is it true that editors at Yahoo! are purposely making errors to see if “Terribly Write” will notice? Desperate cries for attention???

    To the pretend “Old Man”, to “Muah”, and to all of the trolls: get a life and find some errors rather than sititng here whining.

  28. Old Man Says:
    December 20, 2008 at 9:26 am

    Once again, this is the genuine Old Man, forced to reply to the troll who has now posed twice as Old Man. Apparently we can add stupidity to the list of your flaws, which we already know contains dishonesty.

    If you don’t like the blog, don’t read it. Ironic you should caution others to “get a life” when so much of yours is spent trolling this site.

  29. Laura Says:
    December 20, 2008 at 12:51 pm

    Dear Phony Old Man who posted 12/20 at 1:05 am:
    Judging from your use of “purposely” instead of “purposefully” and the typo “sititing” and the misplacement of the apostrophes outside the quotation marks, I’m guessing you’re an editor at Yahoo!.

    I suggest you try posting comments using a different alias and your real email address. The genuine Old Man uses his real email address, which I can view (but you can’t). So I’m confident of the identity of the real Old Man and sure that you ain’t him.

    As for the identities of other commenters: Some comments are posted by me, and all of my comments are under the name Laura. I don’t know if other comments are made by “grumpy Yahoo! employees.” Some folks identify themselves as employees of Yahoo!; others allege they work for Google.

  30. Joel Says:
    December 27, 2008 at 11:46 am

    I love you, Laura. Your site is extremely useful.

  31. Joel Says:
    December 27, 2008 at 11:50 am

    And entertaining. Ha-ha.

  32. ~**~Jayy aka Da President~**~ Says:
    January 20, 2009 at 5:07 pm

    A Very Educational Site! Great For Kids!
    imadeafunny.wordpress.com
    Jayy

  33. Manju Says:
    February 19, 2009 at 8:42 am

    Thank you for a little information in this world full of errors. Misplaced apostrophes and the “bring vs take” problems make me go crazy. Some of the typos in mainstream media leave me wondering if I’m the only one who bothers to notice them.

    -Manju

  34. Peter Says:
    September 14, 2009 at 1:50 pm

    Perhaps a topic qith some quick examples when to use in or on in sentence.

  35. Peter Says:
    September 14, 2009 at 1:51 pm

    Hello,

    Perhaps a topic regarding the use of ‘IN” and “ON” correctly.

    When to use on when to use the other. Rules perhaps?

    Thanks

    Peter

  36. Peter Says:
    September 14, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    Please disregard the Peter entry of sept 14, 2009 at 1:50 pm.

    Wrong e-mail address.

    Thanks

    Peter

  37. anonymous Says:
    October 14, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    I can not spell and I donot know where punctuation goes. Am i qualified to write for Yahoo?

  38. grammar fan Says:
    October 14, 2009 at 2:08 pm

    I’ve been reading this blog for the last few months. All I want to know is how do these people — who make all these errors — still have a job? doesn’t yahoo care about the quality of the writing on its website?

  39. Kaysci Says:
    October 15, 2009 at 1:35 pm

    my teacher asked if you needed a comma after the city and state but no one answered her cause we didn’t know

  40. Laura Says:
    October 15, 2009 at 2:14 pm

    Kaysci,
    If you mean a city and state that appears in a sentence, then yes, you do need a comma after the city and after the state. Omitting the comma after the state is one of my “Top 5 Comma Errors” http://terriblywrite.wordpress.com/terribly-right-writing-for-the-web/top-5-comma-errors/

  41. Linda Says:
    November 5, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    Hi, Laura,

    Please see the last word of your last sentence. Isn’t the correct word “Web site” and not “website?”

    L

  42. Old Man Says:
    November 8, 2009 at 12:25 am

    A usage note from Dictionary.com:

    “The transition from World Wide Web site to Web site to website as a single uncapitalized word mirrors the development of other technological expressions which have tended to take unhyphenated forms as they become more familiar. Thus email is gaining ground over the forms E-mail and e-mail, especially in texts that are more technologically oriented. Similarly, there is an increasing preference for closed forms like homepage, online, and printout.”


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