all right

Occasionally adding corroborative details to add verisimilitude to otherwise bald and unconvincing,
but veridicous accounts
with careful attention, indefatigable assiduity, and nice discrimination.
Showing posts with label spelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spelling. Show all posts

17 April, 2012

‘Everyday’ and ‘Every Day’, Again

I sent the following message (recycled from an earlier e-mail to Yakult) to Segway:
You say, inter alia, “Earth Day is April 22.  At Segway, It’s Everyday!” That should be “Earth Day is April 22. At Segway, It’s Every Day!” You also make the same error, I note, in other press releases.
The word “everyday”—meaning mundane or commonplace—is not the same as the adverbial phrase “every day”—meaning each day.  The difference is only one small space, but that space is important; after all, there is a huge difference between sometime and some time, between allspice and all spice, between anyway and any way, between atone and at one, between atop and a top, between nodose and no dose, or between commonplace and common place.
I know that, to many, this distinction seems petty but, as a supporter of your fine products, I should rather that potential customers not be so discomfited by catachreses in your products’ marketing as to believe that your products’ engineering might also suffer from a similar but dangerous inattention to detail.
The Segway Team replied (only a few hours later):
Thank you for taking the time to point out this oversight.  We take full responsibility for the error and have corrected where it is possible to do so. 
The Segway Team were not just being polite; they did correct the error.
One day, I suppose, I should explain the folly of believing that “greenhouse gases” pose any danger to the environment.  “Earth Day”, a rather silly, environmentalist holy day, is celebrated on Vladimir Lenin’s birthday.

10 February, 2012

‘Everyday’ and ‘Every Day’

A message I sent to Yakult Australia by way of its website:
Yakult’s main slogan is “Everybody. Everyday”, which is intended, according to your website, “to reinforce the message that every family member can benefit from drinking a bottle of Yakult daily.”
Everyday, however, is an adjective meaning “mundane”, “ordinary” or “common-place”.  Every day is an adverbial phrase meaning “daily”.  If you believe spaces don’t matter and that some time has the same meaning as sometime, that all spice is the same as allspice, any way is the same as anyway, at one means atone, a top means atop, or even that no dose means the same as nodose, you’d be wrong.
If you can’t get basic spelling right, how can I trust you to identify and measure ingredients accurately, correctly and safely?  If you want to convey the message that “every family member can benefit from drinking a bottle of Yakult daily”, your slogan should be “everybody, every day”.
UPDATE (17 April):  see also my similar, recycled message to Segway.