If you’re like me, you don’t have enough hours in the day to get done all the things you wish you could do. Does that sound familiar?
One thing that’s important to me is increasing my knowledge of the Bible. Don’t worry; this is not a proselytizing post! But it is a post about another resource for practicing languages if you’re open to learning more about the Bible, even if just to study it as literature.
A few days ago, I joined the year 2010 (only a few years late!) and made an Instagram account. It’s called, unsurprisingly, leethelinguist.
I made my first post, and what did I notice a few minutes later? A typo! I blame it on my iPhone’s autocorrect! I’d mentioned how my day job was having a technical problem on their end, so I had more time to write posts. Of course, it autocorrected to “there end,” which is something I would instantly notice anywhere! And I did notice it right away but only after I had nervously posted the photo. Before any of my *zillions* of followers could see it and criticize me, I quickly commented on the photo that autocorrect had gotten me!
Happy Tuesday evening! It’s time for another edition of Typo Tuesday. For this week’s entry, I’d like to present some screenshots from companies that offer proofreading and editing services. Yes, that’s correct.
I have well over a decade of experience copyediting and proofreading for two companies as well as even more experience helping out friends and family, but I haven’t done much freelance work for individuals I don’t know already. The freelance work I have done was paid hourly, but it seems that a lot of clients prefer to pay by the word or by the page. I wanted to do some research on what other freelance proofreaders charge when they charge by the unit rather than by the hour.
What I found was… interesting. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again that even proofreaders need proofreaders, and I’m sure there will eventually be errors on Lee the Linguist (if there aren’t already). However, I was rather shocked by how often I found errors on websites selling proofreading services, and even more surprisingly, on the pages where they stress the importance of having your work proofread!
It’s Monday again! You know what that means, right? I still have some malapropisms left on my list, so I’ll continue with this series a while longer.
Today I wanted to focus on the use and misuse of “compliment” and “complement.” This is a pair of words that people mix up all the time, in my experience. In fact, I mentioned it in my recent post on TokyoTreat snack subscription boxes. Here’s a screenshot from their (overall enjoyable and well-done) magazine that comes in the box:
Read More »Malapropism Monday, Week 4 — Compliment vs. Complement
Before I got married, I used to play video games. I loved Nintendo, Super Nintendo and Game Boy back in the day! This is one of the things my husband liked about me when we met. When I lived in Japan, I even bought the Game Boy Advance that was a lovely pearl pink color, which at the time was only available in Japan; I got the old-school Zelda and Mario rereleases that came out for it at the time. I know, I’m dating myself!
Once we had our first daughter, I had no more time for games. Well, more accurately, I didn’t prioritize them, much to my husband’s chagrin. He was in grad school, I was working and taking care of the baby, and we were exhausted. To be honest, I still don’t really have the desire to prioritize games like I used to — I can always think of a hundred other things to do! I know this annoys him because he makes video games for a living. Sorry, Honey!
A week or so ago, I came across an iPhone game called City of Love: Paris, by a developer called Ubisoft. I can’t even remember how I heard of it! Maybe I was researching materials for learning French? I have no idea. Anyway, the concept sounded intriguing: you’re an American woman working in Paris and solving a mystery while enjoying French culture and possibly finding video game romance. Oh là là!
My MS Word document full of typos is so long, I’m going to start adding at least two screenshots per entry for Typo Tuesday. At some point I may run low and change that, but I doubt it will happen soon because I come across typos all the time.
First up for today, we have another entry from the Wordfast CAT (computer-assisted translation) software I checked out before a job interview.
It’s a bit late here for today’s Malapropism Monday post due to today being Presidents Day — in the AP writing style there is no apostrophe — here in the US.
Today’s malapropism will be a short and quick one, because I’m tired after wrangling a couple of kids through the rain. Speaking of tiredness have you ever seen “weary” written in place of “wary”? I do all the time. People will say things such as, “I’m really weary of the new policies at work — I don’t think they’ll have a positive effect on absenteeism.” It’s not likely that you can be weary of a new policy, right? Weary means tired or fatigued. I suppose it’s possible, but not very likely.
The more apropos word in that situation would be “wary,” which means “watchful, cautious, or alert” according to Dictionary.com. It’s also possible that you could mean to say you’re “leery” of a policy, since leery means “suspicious” and is a synonym of “wary.” You could say I’m weary of seeing this error and wary whenever I see the word “weary,” and I’m leery of the misuse of these words!
Anyway, the reason my post is late today is because my family and I went to San Francisco since we all had the day off of work and school. We’ve only lived in the Bay Area for a few months, so there’s still a lot we haven’t seen here. There was rain all day long, so we didn’t spend as much time outside walking as we would have liked to, but we had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (a family favorite anywhere in the world we can find one) followed by some walking around Pier 39 and a bit of driving tourism.
Here are a few photos from today:
Bonjour, mes amis! French is by far my weakest language, though I use it every day for my work! I’m able to do that because in my job I never have to speak French, and I only rarely have to write it. When I do write it, I don’t have to write long, complex passages of prose, but rather short phrases and sentences.
That said, I do read French pretty well as long as the topic is something common enough and not too full of specialized jargon. My short time of formal French study combined with my strong Spanish skills and a decent amount of independent study have made French enjoyable enough for me that I do want to continue learning more. Read More »French Study Resources
All right! It’s the third week in a row for Typo Tuesday, where I share the typos I find as I read things I need… Read More »Typo Tuesday, Week 3
Another week, another Monday, another Malapropism Monday here! It’s been a pretty busy day — there’s only an hour left of Monday in my time… Read More »Malapropism Monday, Week 2