Little Sister

It doesn't take analysis from the British SIS to realize something is amiss near this sis. If the writer wished to end a sentence with a shortened form of sister, that's fine, but not to put too fine a point on it, he should have put a point on it — a period, to be exact. It's not conventional to end a sentence, let alone a paragraph, sans a punctuation mark. It's informal. Like sis.

All the Wrong Moves

Allow the image at right to serve as your teleprompter, readers. It shows an excerpt from the speech Meryl Streep gave after winning a best-actress Oscar for her performance in The Iron Lady. I don't know who transcribed this Academy Awards speech, but, oh, Mamma Mia!

In the span of four sentences, I count more errors (four) than Meryl Streep has Oscars (three).

Did she really want to think all her colleagues and friends? I doubt it. The thing is, we must think twice about this, because think has been used incorrectly — twice! First it was think instead of thank, and then it was think instead of thing. These were easy word selections to make; Sophie's choice was much, much more difficult!

Moving on...

The think-thing switcheroo isn't the only error in the last sentence. I take no pleasure (OK, maybe a little) in announcing that someone did a job on it, taking all the joy out of it. Plus, Meryl Streep has made her fair share of classic movies, to be sure (The Deer Hunter, Kramer vs. Kramer, Out of Africa and Julie & Julia, to name a few), but I had no idea this living legend could bust a move. I'll have to YouTube it.

A Mini-Error

Open the miniature door, let the cool air hit you and feast your eyes on the deck in this USA Today article about hotel minibars. That's quite the exotic spelling of exotic, huh? We see you, c. If you don't remove yourself, you're going to pay the price — and it'll be more costly than a $7 bottle of water, an $8 bag of Gummi Bears or a $15 can of Mashuga Nuts.