Are you able to breathe?

Are you waiting for a Yahoo! Style article that is error-free? Don’t hold your breath. Relax, breathe, and read:

It took my breath away

Reading this from Yahoo! Finance practically took my breath away:

Maybe someone could breathe some life back into this article with a different word choice.

Hold your breath

I don’t know the woman who is quoted on Yahoo! Style, but I’ll bet dollars to donuts that she didn’t say “breath”:

Maybe the writer  was stressed. Maybe she was faced with a deadline galloping toward her. Next time she should just relax: take a deep breath and then breathe out.

Breathe new life into your writing

You know how this writer for Yahoo! Makers could breathe new life into her writing? She could learn the difference between the noun breath and the verb breathe:

Just breathe

Here’s some advice for this writer at Yahoo! Style: Relax. Take a deep breath. Exhale. Now just breathe. And make sure you don’t confuse the noun breath with the verb breathe:

Take a deep breath

Take a deep breath. Now breathe. That’s the advice I have for readers of Yahoo! Makers: Don’t get upset because there are so many professional writers, who presumably are college graduates, who have such a tenuous hold on the English language. Just be thankful you’re not one of them.

Still holding your breath?

Take a deep breath. Breathe in. Breathe out. Stay calm, this misspelling on Yahoo! DIY may pass:

Don’t hold your breath

As I live and breathe, I’ve never seen this mistake — until I read Yahoo! DIY:

If you expect an editor to correct this, don’t hold your breath. This was actually written by someone with the title of “editor.”

Wrecking havoc with the language

Yahoo! just launched a new site called Yahoo! Style. I immediately thought that it must be better written than the rest of Yahoo!; after all, it was new! Wouldn’t the Internet giant invest in the quality of the writing of a new site? Wouldn’t Yahoo! finally hire competent editors to ensure the success of Style? I was hopeful as I jumped at the opportunity to read an article by Style’s editor in chef. Now there’s a person who must appreciate the need for quality writing.

The title promised info on dressing for extreme temperatures, so I’m thinking the heat of summer and the cold of the dead of winter:

By the time I’d finished the article, I’d learned about dressing for heat and for that other temperature extreme — rain. But I shouldn’t have been surprised that the writer (the editor in chief!) couldn’t figure out what he was supposed to be writing about. The more I read the more I realized he probably couldn’t figure out what language he was supposed to be writing in.

Here he takes a serious subject like global warming and reveals its true threat to humanity: It wrecks havoc on fashion:

Well, wrecking havoc sounds good to me; that would be destroying chaos. It’d be much worse if it were wreaking (or bringing about) havoc.

Then, I read this use of then instead of than:

I’m going to try to ignore the advice, which doesn’t exactly seem like it’s meant for the woman of the twenty-first century, and focus on the writing, which kinda sucks:

When I read this, I thought wearing cotton over silk sounded odd for dressing for hot weather:

But the writer (the editor in chief!) meant “prefer cotton over silk.” The rest of the stream-of-consciousness writing alleges that cottons allows [sic] the body to breath. Believe me, if your body ain’t breathing, wearing cotton isn’t going to help. The writer meant that cotton is preferable because cotton breaths (that is, it allows air to pass through it).

So, am I hopeful that Yahoo! Style will provide quality content? Not if it’s written by Yahoo! writers (and the editor in chief).

It would be a breath of fresh air

If the writers and editors at Yahoo! managed to go an entire day without using an incorrect word, that would be like a breath of fresh air. And we could all breathe easier. Could today be the day? No, not with this incorrect word on the home page of Yahoo! Travel:P