Let’s not focus on the negative

Instead of focusing on the names the writer for Yahoo! Movies got wrong (like Taissa Farmiga and Sofia Coppola) or the arbitrary word that got capitalized, let’s focus on the words that are correct:

That was easy.

More sketchy spelling

The last time I saw this spelling of Skechers, it was on Yahoo! Shopping. This time it’s on Yahoo! Shine:

Peekaboo boo-boo part two

What dictionary did the writer for the Yahoo! front page use to check the spelling of this?

According to the dictionary you’ll find on Yahoo! (the American Heritage Dictionary), there’s no hyphens in peekaboo. According to the folks at yahoo.com, there are two of them.

It’s Tobey Maguire and Quai Laubeuf

At least it should be Tobey Maguire and Quai Laubeuf in this photo caption from Yahoo! Movies:

Apparently the ability to spell — or even do a Google search — is not a requirement at Yahoo!. 

Something’s afoot and it’s not good

It’s not the worst typo a writer can make, but it’s an easy one to spot if you’re writing about Ray Halbritter:

Maybe the writer needs some assistance in the proofreading department:

And editor who knows that either is singular and it’s is the contraction for it has would certainly help:

But something is afoot at Yahoo! Sports‘ “Prep Rally”: There’s no proofreader or editor at hand.

End the reign of error!

It’s not unusual to make a teensy, weensy mistake when you’re writing. A simple typo, like typing it instead of is, is the kind of error most readers can overlook. But there are some mistakes that readers can’t overlook and can’t forgive. One of those is misspelling the name of your subject and doing it in a headline. That’s what the writer did on Yahoo! Sports‘ “Prep Rally” when writing about a team from McDonogh School:

If only there were a way the writer could see the name of the high school — like a photo of the team wearing jerseys with the school’s name. Wait, wait! This article is accompanied by a photo and this time the writer actually spelled McDonogh correctly. Unfortunately, he misspelled Baltimore — but it’s not his fault. He didn’t have a picture of Baltimore in front of him:

But that’s just a typo, which any good proofreader would have spotted. But this is just an out-and-out error:

Perhaps it’s time the writer handed the reins over to a real editor or proofreader — one who knows that a monarch reigns and a horse is controlled with reins.

Steve Carell would be so much better

You know what would be better than this from Yahoo! Screen‘s “Daily Shot”? If the writer had taken the time to learn how to spell Steve Carell’s name. And if the writer had taken the time to figure out how to write a link:

You’d think that someone working for one of the biggest Internet companies in the world would know how to do both.

Writer confesses she doesn’t care about accuracy

I don’t know if the writer or editor is responsible for this headline on Yahoo! TV, but whoever wrote this shows a total disregard for accuracy:

The guy’s name is Ricky Gervais.

My bologna has a first name

Anyone who lived in the States in the ’70s and owned a television is familiar with this ditty:

My bologna has a first name, it’s O-S-C-A-R.
My bologna has a second name, it’s M-A-Y-E-R.
Oh I love to eat it every day. If you ask me why I’ll say,
‘Cause Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A.

So, I’m guessin’ that the writer for Yahoo! Shine grew up in Somalia or Djibouti or Mumbai or some place where they’re unlikely to eat Oscar Mayer meats or see the Wienermobile:

Sketchy spelling

How great a job is this!? You write about shoes for Yahoo! Shopping and you don’t have to know anything about shoes:

Well, maybe you do have to know something. You just don’t have to know how to spell the brand Skechers.