In a political argument yesterday, a woman began with “I’ve been saying this from the gecko . . .”
One DHS official to CNN:
“The department needs a
law enforcement leader, not a sicko fan.”
This isn’t a human error, but the hilarious result of automatically generated captions. In an aviation video I was watching recently, the narrator made several references to a “check pilot” – a qualified senior pilot who evaluates the capabilities of other pilots. Each time, the caption read “Czech pilot”!
Yes, the Czech Republic has the best flight schools in the world – that’s where you want your supervising pilots to come from! 
Yesterday, our local weekly reported on the city commission meeting, during which an application for a ‘serial malt beverage’ license was approved.
Someone held their finger on the shift button too long.
This isn’t exactly an error, at least a I think, but a difference in philosophy. I’ve seen several news reports about NASA where NASA is treated as a plural (e.g., ‘NASA are planning to launch in February.’). I think that’s mostly a Britishism(?), an action by a group is treated as as actions by the members of that group.
I don’t know if it’s ever been corrected, but the mall had large cigarette receptacles outside of the doors. They had signs attached that said, Please Extinquish Cigarettes Before Entering.
Our mayor was giving a little speech during the council meeting about scams and what to be “weary” of and at first I let it go but he used it 3 times so I leaned over and said “leery” to, I dunno, help him save face. When I read the minutes from the clerk, the clerk used “wary” in his summary instead of “weary” or “leery” and I told him that was just as good.
I think it’s a common mistake people say “weary” instead of “wary” or “leery.” But I don’t like it.
I used to live on a street called McKenzie Street. One of the street signs misspelled it as “McKinzie.” It has since been corrected.
A few years ago I was interviewed by the local newspaper, and I happened to mention the British TV show “Midsomer Murders.” I guess the writer of the article wasn’t a fan, because it appeared in the paper as “Midsummer Murders.” It was corrected in the online version.
I think that’s perfect, and surely there are occasions where the two terms would legitimately be interchangeable.
Agreed. It’s similar to “old timer’s/Alzheimer’s disease.”
I hear it at least once a year, and it always sets my teeth on edge.
A longtime sign for “Fredrick” Street in Arlington, Virginia was eventually corrected to “Frederick”.
“Agreed. It’s similar to “old timer’s/Alzheimer’s disease.”
Or die-rear/diarrhea
Our substitute exercise leader does a facial exercise where you’re supposed to pucker your lips in an exaggerated kiss. She says “pierce your lips” instead of “purse”. I don’t know if that is a regional pronunciation from wherever she grew up, or a misheard word on her part. It grates on my ears.
On the local news, there is a reporter who, when talking about a large truck, pronounces it “semee”, as in semitone, instead of “sem-eye”.
NM, I missed that the G was a Q.
Does bad closed captioning count? “The Amazing Race” has some of the worst closed-captioning I’ve ever seen, frequently out of sync and riddled with spelling errors. One memorable goof was a leg in India that ended in the gardens near the Taj Mahal. A team of two women was running around frantically trying to find Phil at the mat. One woman says something like “I know Phil must be nearby, I can smell his cologne.” Except that the closed captioning had “colon”.
Years ago my church had a weekly newletter which outlined upcoming events it once put an “n” where a “g” should be to print:
“The church sinning group will meet on Monday at 7:00pm”
It made it on TV which had a section on such mistakes.
I also heard about a warning that came with a carving knife that while good advice it not exactly what they meant:
”WARNING keep out of children”
While camping once at a national park, I was amused by a sign that said “do not wash your dishes under the spicket”.
This one is regional dialect. IIRC, the north-east says tractor-trailer, the south-west says “eighteen-wheeler” the rest of the west says sem-eye and the rest of the east says sem-ee.