PSA: Loose Cannons

[railise]

Lately, I keep seeing a handful of spelling and grammar errors pop up all over the internet. And, I'm not the only one noticing them; I've discussed this with people in a few different places now, but it's usually in comments on a journal entry that has little or nothing to do with the topic, and that's solving nothing. So, I figured I'd do

Comments

[roh_wyn]

Oh, good grief! I hope I'm not one of the offenders. I routinely post things to my LJ and discover some howler of a typo later. Sorry about that.

The "loose" and "lose" one mystifies me though, because I've seen a lot of really good writers (and one in particular) who make that error over and over again. Isn't that one of the ones that just jumps right off the page at you?

Also, I will always spell it "Vaysey". :D I also tend to write it as "Allan-a-Dale", but I have no idea why.

[wastingyourgum]

I was watching 1x11 the other day (DVR'd from BBC HD) and turned on the credits just out of curiosity.

"Charity begins at home, Vaizey!" is what appeared - but really I think pretty much any spelling of Vaizey/Vaisey/Vasey/Vaysey is acceptable - we all know who you mean.

But "Alan" annoys me, and "Djak" really annoys me. "LeGrand" I can understand and so is only a minor irritant.

I personally usually go with "Allan A'Dale".

More generally I wish people would remember that just because every word is spelled correctly doesn't mean it's the word you want! If I see "defiantly" where "definitely" should be one more time...

[railise]

I've heard that there are different spellings of "Vaizey" used in the subtitles, though I've never turned them on. Eesh!

And YES, "Alan" and "Djak" or "Djac" get on my nerves. "Legrand" is misspelled in ZombieHood, actually... I need to go through and fix that (we had "Le Grande").

GOOD POINT! And that reminds me of something to add...

[roh_wyn]

I see a lot of "Djac" as well, which is understandable, but very jarring. Likewise, I find "Alan" and even "Scarlet", though nominally correct, very annoying.

More generally I wish people would remember that just because every word is spelled correctly

True. I can't tell you how many times I've typed "if" instead of "is" or "Good" instead of "Hood" (or "food", but only in the Much fics, lol!)

[railise]

I find all of those jarring, which is why I bothered to put them up. But again, between various spellings in various versions, and even inconsistencies on behalf of the show, it's not quite the same as the other spelling/grammar things. ;)

I can't type to save my life; it's a wonder the back space key hasn't fallen off my laptop yet. :D

[roh_wyn]

This is my problem. I can spell just fine, and I actually do know all those pesky grammar rules. But I type like my two-year old. Only worse. ;)

[railise]

Hee! Just last night, mylogiceatsyou was mentioning that, when I'm tipsy and chatting, I tend to switch letters around. I admitted that I do that constantly-- I apparently just don't notice them in time to fix them when I've had a nightcap. ;)

[wastingyourgum]

That's my usual stumbling block - wnat, hvae, coudl, etc. all appear frequently in my first drafts.

[railise]

You know what else I do a lot, is "Marina" and "RObin." I've felt very vindicated to see "Marina" pop up in some fics... although it also makes me want to scream, "FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR MUSE, BETA!!!" ;)

[jagnikjen]

Glad to see I'm not alone, either, in these things. I thought it was just me suffering the on-set of older age...

[railise]

Not at all!! This is mostly in reaction to seeing "loose" and "cannon"* one too many times. ;) It mystifies me, too!

The problem with the sheriff is that it was never written anywhere-- that nugget was passed along by a former member of the LJ fandom who had insider access, lol, so I figured I'd share it, but it's not canon. The "-a-Dale" is a spelling found in some of the stories, so maybe that's it? And really, spellings were inconsistent back then, with people even signing their own names in different ways, so it's not that big a deal! :D

*ETA: and, seeing those together has given me a better title for this post... ;)

[wastingyourgum]

I did think of making a "loose canon" joke but then something shiny distracted me...

And most people back then couldn't write their name or anything else to save themselves.

[railise]

lol! Ahh, the curse of shiny objects. XD

And yup! I -try- not to be very picky about the name spellings, just with the many versions throughout the years; but, it really does make kind of a mental snag for me when I'm reading a show fanfic and a name spelling is off.