Mea culpa

Just received an e-mail pointing out a grammatical error in my first post. Don't look, I've corrected it now. I'd like to say something along the lines of 'even the best of us', but that seems a moot point now, not to mention an obviously unwarranted claim.
The error was a missing apostrophe, one of my personal betes noir, so there is no excuse. It does help prove one point, though - spell cheque is knot enough.
Thank to Alicia Helman, self-described would-be proof reader, for putting me right. Not so much of the 'would-be', Alicia.

At last

At last, the new website is up. Proofamatics On-line users can log in from the home page, new users can purchase an on-line workshop and devotees of the Proofamatics guide to grammar, punctuation, spelling and capitalisation can purchase directly or download an interactive copy.

In case of fire

Wandering around Asia and staying in high-rise and high-star hotels, I keep being told not to use the lifts. On nearly every lift there is a notice 'In case of fire do not use lift'. Does the management really mean that we shouldn't use the lift in case a fire breaks out? This would inconvenience a lot of people in high-rise hotels in high-humidity regions.

What the notice is trying to say is 'When there a fire, don't use the lift'. The insertion of 'the' would solve the problem. 'In the case of fire do not use lift.' OK, it sounds a little clumsy but it is English.

Cheap downturns - get yours here

Just received an e-mail that refers to the 'economical downturn'. As opposed to an expensive downturn? Or a value-for-money one? Or did he mean the 'economic downturn'? Hmm. A strokey beardy moment, methinks.

£13,00.00 vat

I recently received a quote from a European Management School of high repute indicating the cost of a course as £13,00.00 vat. What did the writer mean and what was the effect of the error?
Apart from being  puzzled (and amused, I'll admit) I lost a teeny bit of faith in the organisation. Maybe they don't run mundane letter- and proposal-writing courses, but that's no excuse. They are offering to teach senior management how to run companies, darn it.
We all know that e-mails are often sent off in a hurry and not checked as thoroughly as we check 'proper' letters, and we all use the immediacy of e-mails as an excuse: 'it's only an e-mail so they'll understand'. Well, chummy, if you can't be bothered to grant me the courtesy of checking what you write to me, I'll not be bothered with the courtesy of replying. And there's a quick way for you to lose business.
On this occasion it was difficult to reply, as anything I said would point out the error to a then embarrassed writer. So I spent MY time searching through the attached literature to find the real cost. Neither productive nor pleasing.
It was £13,000 + vat, by the way.

Plurals

Just heard a reporter on Radio4 refer to 'Attorney Generals'. Should have been 'Attorneys General'. Unless, of course there is an army rank no-one but the reporter knows about. An easy mistake, but not one he should have made.

PROOFAMATICS ON-LINE

In recognition of all those people who can't get to a Proofamatics workshop we have launched Proofamatics On-line, an eight module e-learning workshop available to individuals or in-company groups. Go to www.proofamatics.com to find out all about it. You can get a FREE week's trial of the workshop by getting in contact with us.