Cheezy, er, Cheesy Spelling

For unexplained reasons, my brother began receiving New York magazine last year. He's not sure why. He didn't ask for a subscription, nor did he want one. When the issues arrive, he gives them to me with nary a glance. I take cursory looks. If I see something he might enjoy, I let him know.

I didn't find anything up his alley in the January 16–23, 2012, issue, but I did find something for my blog. I consider it the windfall from a free, unsolicited subscription. It beats receiving a free tote bag or football-shaped phone, that's for sure.

I'm guessing all my readers managed to spot the New York error. There are two there's in the fourth sentence, though only one is spelled properly. The other has a z in it. Reminds me of the growing trend to form ersatz spellings by changing z's to s's. Think Bratz dolls or the film Boyz N the Hood or the TV channel Starz or the Kanye West song "Slow Jamz" or the line of Petz video games, which includes Dogz, Catz, Ponyz and Bunnyz, among others. I could go on, but you'd probably fall asleep. Zzz

What's with the z-instead-of-s approach? I suppose it's for marketing purposes and is considered zippy, or zingy. I find it a tad unprofessional. All the gangstaz and playaz can continue to zpell while the rest of us spell, but I wish they wouldn't. Don't they realise — I mean realize — it's zany?