Sunday, October 25, 2009

Spot the Difference - homophone headaches


First there was this sign...




...then there was this one...

Can you spot the differences? Answers in the Comments box please!!!


These two wedding signs caught my pendantic eye some weeks back so I thought I'd share them with you. I know some of the readers of this blog are grammar and spelling anoraks like myself, always ready to gripe over a grammatical gaffe or spelling slip-up. I have already ranted here and here about language mangling and some hilarious posters.

These were obviously spotted fairly quickly but not before a costly sign had gone up by the hotel entrance. To spare their blushes I won't reveal their identity, and in all fairness they have resolved the problem quite quickly.

It was noted by a few people who commented on it, but I have seen mistakes like these homonym and homophone errors so often lately that may creep into such common usage to become acceptably interchangeable. It will probably continue to be a pet peeve and put me up there (or their) with Lynn Truss and John Humphrys in the language policing stakes.

Apart from these glitches, the venue is great and I have no doubt that it offers good value. The total package is around €5,000 for what's listed, and I think this is reflecting recession times for all you wannabee brides out there.

10 comments:

Irene said...

In the first sign they offered canopies, which would not have been very edible. I love these kinds of errors and can never believe people making them. At least they could check the dictionary when writing these kinds of texts.

Rachel Cotterill said...

Ahh, the old complement/compliment chestnut - not as funny as the canopies, but I'm glad they corrected it too.

It does sound like a bargain, though, compared to the sorts of prices I've heard of for castle weddings! :)

Catherine said...

Hi Irene - yes you're (your!) right the canopies would have given you indigestion! It was pretty funny alright, had a good laugh. I think the wrong one is still in place, with the correct one around the side, not as prominently displayed. As you can see not much use made of dictionaries or thesauruses any more.
Hope you are good, I haven't been by your blog for a while. Must rectify that omission!
Catherine

Catherine said...

Hi Rachel - it isn't actually in the castle, they just have an arrangement with the castle to use their gardens as advertised, and the park as well. You're right about the prices - they would be low for a castle.I think for Lismore Castle you could have your wedding bash for about €22,000 for the reception (not sure how many) and a stay of 3 days - it's probably be on the website. (not too interested, it's all a bit late for that now!)
Compliment/complement shows up regularly and all too frequently. lazy proofreading!
All the best, Catherine

Rudee said...

You have a good I for these flubs.;-)

Niamh Griffin said...

Oh groan! That's what happens when people speed-work on signs! Maybe they were baby-canopies made of marzipan?? Or maybe not!

Jeannette StG said...

Catherine, thanks for making sure. Jhoos was a scam, and yes, I changed all my email addresses and pass words right after that. So, my new email is Jeannette.Coevorden1(at)yahoo(dot)com
so I can send mass emails (don't know how to do that at hotmail, and I had a hard time getting another email address there).

Signs and ads can be hilarious - we had some real baffling ones in China:) Have a good rest of the week!

Catherine said...

Thanks Rudee
I had to read that a few times to get the txtspk!! We'll all be writing like that in a few decades - seems one kid in England submitted an exam essay in textspeak! all gr8 and r u dere and i no and dats gud - my daughter's texts are indecipherable to look at - gotta read 'em aloud to sound 'em out! Flubs is a new word for me too!
Catherine

Catherine said...

Hi Niamh
Maybe you were right about the canopies - not the first time I've seen that one though, it slipped through on a wedding menu I saw. In fact I saw a lovely one yesterday I must photograph but it was by a roundabout and I couldn't stop - Complimentary therapies!- they must be doing well to give them away! That's for another post ;)
Catherine.

Catherine said...

Hi Jeannette -
Thought that wasn't you - have noted your new email. thanks for clarifying. I had another few spammers in my blog - just badly written comments from India mostly and when I clicked on 'em they led me to ads and pages of stuff for sale. I have to be more discerning!
Sign ads are indeed hilarious - (see the one I mentioned to Niamh above)- and we will get plenty of mileage from them - my favourite ever was a garage in Tanzania with the immortal words "Penal Beating here" - amazing anagrams - must have been a masochistic cleric working there doing confessions on the side! I'd say China was good. there was a sign in a Dublin shop - curtains made to customer's own sizes!!!(Sound of music comes to mind!)
Catherine