Turn your grammar check on

It is bad enough that the grammar in the commercial is atrocious. It is probably worse that I only remember the commercial and what it was advertising because I wrote down the the offending line and the name of the advertiser. The commercial in question is a Mistsubishi  commercial that includes the line "Turn your blinker on."

 I don't even remember what version of car the commercial was advertising. I learned to drive while living in the State of Wisconsin. We learned to shoulder check our lane changes and to use our 'turn indicators' to let people behind us know what we intend to do. Every now and again the people behind me think that I am giving them permission to accelerate and block my lane change. Every now and again, while living in North Carolina, while traveling on I-40 through Orange county people would ride the 'lane ending' lane for a half mile or a mile, driving at near full highway speed,  with their 'blinkers' flashing, until they ran out of road.

It would be great if more people used their blinkers. If you are in a turn only lane, then you probably don't need to use it. It would be great if advertisers learned how to avoid ending a sentence or a tag-line with a preposition.

I propose: "Be a Thinker and Use Your Blinker."

I don't speak like everyone; I speak the way I speak.

Imagine placing your business in the hands of the people who cannot edit their commercials properly. Scottrade has an advertisement running right now that ends with the line "I don't trade like everyone else; I trade like me."

Like, for those of you who, like, read this blog from time to time, you know that, like, I don't appreciate misusing the word "like." The first part of that sentence should have been "I don't make the same trades AS everyone else...."

The concluding like is even more problematic.  It is very simple: Don't mix 'persons.' Me, Myself, and I are the choices for the final word. "I trade the way I trade." The final two lines spoken by the actress should be: "I don't make the same trades as everyone else does, I trade the way I trade. I trade with Scottrade.

I guess I'll keep blogging until I run out of material.

Real Ginger. Real Taste. Fake Grammar.

I enjoy cooking and describing food. When you describe the nuances of the food you can talk about bitter, sweet, savory, buttery flavors. Taste is the sense, flavor is what you taste. Smell is a sense. Floral, acrid, foul - that is the aroma or odor that you are sensing.

Real Ginger. Real Flavor.

Panera is on the wrong road with regard to its grammar

Sometimes the hard road is the right road to be on.... except when your pitch is constructed out of weak grammar. I appreciate the quality of the ingredients that Panera uses for its food. Their bread is good. Their grammar - ending in a preposition - not so much.

One Reverse Grammar

They can tell you how much you qualify for.

Former Senator Fred Thompson has a great presence during the commercial for a Reverse Mortgage. I have a problem with the product and his grammar. A reverse mortgage gives you a monthly payment and increases the debt owed on your home. The homeowner will end up owing money when s/he sells the house, and it is possible that they could owe more money than the house is worth.

The problem I have is with his grammar is that it should be "They can tell you how much money you can expect to receive each month from the mortgaging of your home."