Welcome to another edition of Friday Follies! This week the Grammar Cop is particularly steamed over the lack of proofreaders in various media. In online articles, print ads and newspapers, this neglect results in the same darn thing: GOOFS!

1. THE SUBURBAN: “With a government auditor expected to descend upon 6000 Fielding next month, and the provicne’s UPAC squad set to open its books, EMSB chair Angela Mancini said…”
2. NOSHERZ BAKERY (menu): “Pâté chinois / Sheppard’s Pie”
3. INQUISITR.COM: “… including that he is severely blind. The shamed comedian is assumably trying to get a Pennsylvania judge to dismiss…”

The corrections. Let’s talk about them!

1. Once again, the Grammar Cop concedes that we all make typos; for that reason I usually overlook them for Friday Follies purposes. However: on the right-hand side of the front page of the paper? No. No no no no no. Not one person noticed “provicne” (for province) before it went to press? I also want to mention that not everyone knows what “UPAC” stands for. It should be spelled out. (Normally I would also spell out “EMSB,” at least the first time it’s used, but I’ll let it slide here, since virtually every sentient person in the area served by this weekly rag newspaper knows it stands for English Montreal School Board.)
2. I find the irony delicious at this bakery! The first phrase in French, with its confounding accents, is correct. The second, in unaccented English – which of course should be Shepherd’s Pie – is not. No one thought to proofread this menu, most likely written by someone whose first language is French? Apparently not.
3. Sigh. The horror, “assumably,” was presumably intended to be presumably. Insert eye roll emoji here. (Also: “severely blind”? As opposed to… what? Mildly blind?)

Someone at the proofreader switch for all these boo-boos was presumably asleep – or, more likely, was never hired in the first place. This seems to be a growing trend. Lots of fodder for the Grammar Cop – but eyesores galore for the rest of us!