It’s time for our semi-irregular look at mistakes in writing or marketing that may be embarrassing to those who made them, but that are darned amusing for the rest of us.
The local police report listed several calls for “wreckless drivers.” Isn’t that a good thing – drivers who have managed to avoid accidents? I suppose that a reckless driver might be a wreckless driver, but only if he or she is very fortunate.
An announcer at a local radio station was performing a live read of a commercial for a law firm. She said that they handle “litigation, arbitration, and meditation.” My mind instantly conjured a vision of a circle of lotus-positioned lawyers chanting “ommm”. (Of course, she meant “mediation,” which isn’t usually quite as calming.)
The Munster, IN Times had a front-page story about a state plan for taking over the operation of failing schools. The lede (yes, that’s how newspapers spell it) read, “School superintendents whose failing schools could be taken over by private companies complained at a pubic hearing Friday that they have not been given the same tools and flexibility that companies might be given to turn the schools around.” I’m less worried about the takeovers than by the thought the superintendents were participating in a
“pubic hearing,” whatever that may be.
And speaking of pubic matters, a billboard created to promote South Bend’s school system in the face of strong private-school competition would have made a much stronger case if the eight-foot-high headline hadn’t referred to the system as “PUBIC SCHOOLS.”