I once saw a legal document, signed by a judge, stating a person had been convicted of “death by deception.”
Uh, maybe that should have read “theft by deception.” You think a judge would have caught that one.
[QUOTE=Filbert]
The local supermarket today had a sign on the disabled toilet saying ‘Toilet out of order, sorry for any inconvince caused.’
[/QUOTE]
Could be worse, autocorrect or inattention could have led them to apologizing for any incontinence caused, which would at least be plausible.
Hijack: Whenever I see a story about someone hiding something someplace secret I usually get grossed out and laugh. Because you secret the item, but in the past tense you secreted it. I always imagine the item oozing out of their body into the hiding place.
Another hijack:
These are not inadvertencies. An inadvertent incident is something that can’t be avoided no matter how strenuously someone tries to prevent (avert) it.
When you try, you can avoid such silly spelling/grammar mistakes. In fact, a majority of the responses above include notes about successful aversions of potential problems.
They are accidents – unfortunate situations that, regardless of whether or not someone tried to avert the problem, still occurred.
—G!
Yeah, I know this belongs in that other thread.
Carry on.
From Dictionary.com:
"in·ad·vert·ent
adjective
1.unintentional: an inadvertent insult.
2.not attentive; heedless.
3.of, pertaining to, or characterized by lack of attention."
Sounds like the right word to me.