Jose Carillo's Forum

BADLY WRITTEN, BADLY SPOKEN

This page seeks to promote good English usage in everyday life—whether at home, at school, in the workplace, in public platforms, in the mass media, in books, and anywhere else where the printed or spoken word is used. In short, this page will serve as some sort of grammar police against blatant or grievous public misuses of English.

So, whenever you encounter such misuse, share it through this page in the spirit of constructive criticism. Our ultimate goal, of course, is to bring the misuse to the attention of those responsible so they can make the necessary correction.

This Week's Feature:

McDonald’s new ad in UK skewered for inaccurate English usage

This McDonald’s ad for its Pound Saver Menu has been skewered in the United Kingdom for its inaccurate use of the English language:

McDonald's

According to a report in Sky News Online yesterday (January 24), the ad’s opening statement, “the pound, also known as a bob,” isn’t true, strictly speaking. In the UK, its critics argue, a “bob” is a term for a shilling or five pence, which is of far less value than a pound.

Marie Clair, spokeswoman of the London-based Plain English Campaign, gave this comment to Sky News Online: “It just doesn't work for me, a bob certainly isn’t anything like a pound.”

In defense of the ad’s language, a McDonald’s spokesman said: “Although a ‘bob’ was formerly used as a slang term for the shilling until the introduction of decimalisation in 1971, research has shown it is now more commonly used as slang for a pound or money in general.”

Read the full story in Sky News Online now!

Click here to discuss/comment

You can report the English misuse by e-mailing a verbatim transcription or an image in GIF or JPEG format to jcarilloforum@gmail.com. When doing so, please be mindful of the laws against libel and oral defamation. Our interest is not to humiliate English-language offenders but to help them rectify the error, so there’s no need to identify them in your messages. Just indicate the city, district, street, and general location where you saw or found the particular English misuse to make it easier for those concerned to be alerted about it.

We will also need your full name, residence, e-mail address, and telephone number so we can confirm with you before the posting is made on this page. Just let us know if you don’t want to be identified in the posting so we can withhold your identity. Please keep in mind that this page will be moderated and will not entertain scurrilous reports nor those sent in by anonymous sources.

That said, you can now get started in doing volunteer police work for the sake of good English! It should be a truly gratifying educational experience and you and other English lovers can have lots of fun besides!




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Page last modified: 27 February, 2010, 1:55 a.m.