Posts by Don Hauptman

This is a “By Reader Request” column. Self-described ETR fan Peg Sausville writes to disclose her “biggest all-time pet peeve”: mistakes that involve its and it’s. “I see these errors every day — on the Internet, in newsletter articles, in e-mail. Everywhere.” Examples of such punctuation gaffes: “My cat is chasing it’s [its is correct]…

Mardy Grothe, a friend and fellow language enthusiast, specializes in creating collections of great quotations. Within each of his books, all the quoted passages share a unifying theme. His latest work, just published, is called Ifferisms. What’s an ifferism? The word is Mardy’s own coinage. It’s an aphorism that begins with the word “if.” A…

Below, another batch of interesting mistakes, all found recently in major newspapers: A Pentagon spokesman on unneeded planes: “We’ve always frowned upon earmarks and additives that are above and beyond what we ask for.” An additive is a substance, usually a chemical, that’s combined with another substance. The right word here is addition. “Are we…

In a recent article reporting on “e-signatures” for contracts and other documents, this quotation appeared: “How do you know it was me who signed it?” The proper uses of I and me are among the first grammatical rules that schoolchildren are taught. Yet even as adults, writers and speakers sometimes get it wrong. The distinction…

I have long been fascinated by funny mistakes committed by people who should know better. Whenever I find an amusing goof, I seize upon it. “How did the copy editors and proofreaders and fact-checkers miss that one?” I think. Many people share my passion, judging by the popularity of Jay Leno’s “Headlines” segments, bloopers and…