Ok, so what is wrong with this picture? I'll give you a hint, "Loose Weight, Feel Great!" Yes, it is official. Editing 420 has turned me into an obsessive grammar checker. This is a sign that my sister and I drove by in Naperville over Thanksgiving break. She explained that hot yoga is a group yoga class where they turn the heat way up. While reading the sign and contemplating how disgusting this form of exercise would be, I suddenly realized that the sign said "loose" instead of "lose." I assumed they did not mean that if you have "loose" (adjective) weight, then you feel great, so I told my sister to turn the car around. I explained to her how I needed a picture for my editing class. I couldn't believe a sign about physical fitness would get such a common statement wrong. Plus, my sister said that the sign had been there for a while.So, like a crazy person, I jumped out of my car, grabbed my camera, squatted by the sign and took a picture. Luckily, I had my camera on me that weekend. The street was very busy, and I'm sure people were thinking, "Man, she is excited about hot yoga." Anyways, I was left wondering who writes these signs? Did the hot yoga place just leave the editing up to the company who printed the sign? Did anyone read this over? Either way, I think a mistake like this is ridiculous, and I am very tempted to call the number.
The moral of the story is that this class has made me much more conscious of the words printed around me. Now, because of this new obsession, I am finding myself squatting next to a hot yoga sign by the side of the road and taking pictures. That's normal...not.
7 comments:
Perhaps, by some strange logic, the writer of the copy referred to the expanding properties of heat, which could possibly make one's weight, well, looser. Then again, the answer is probably the most obvious one: so many people don't know and respect the English language, no matter if it is their first or second tongue. What really, really get's me is the "unnecessary" use of "quotes" as "if" it were some sort of "emphasis mark" ... that and the insane use of ellipses as an em-dash ...
I assume this was a reference to my use of quotes and ellipses. I quoted the material that was on the sign, and yes, maybe I use ellipses wrong in my blog, but I would do it differently if it was going to be published on a sign. Thanks for your input though.
Wow. That is such a blatant mistake I can't believe that they would do that. I'm glad you took a picture of it, though, shows Journ420 dedication! Loose weight makes me think of flab, I know, sick. Definitely a bad promotion sign for a yoga class!
Hot Yoga huh? There are so many typos on signs in my neighborhood it's scary. You'd think these people would consult a (literate) friend or dictionary before investing $ in a sign.
Haha, I love seeing typos in society. However, I often wonder to myself if they're a byproduct of laziness and a lack of fact checking... or most of society just didn't pay attention in second grade. I just recently read something one of my friends wrote, and he spelled "guess," G-E-U-S-S. He legit thought that was the correct spelling....
What gets me is how all y'all call the yoga place "they," grammar people. And Drake, gets has no apostrophe!
All kidding aside, I am amused when I see those blatant misspellings. I agree that this class makes us more aware of the English language.
Most Americans don't take the language as seriously as we do. Loose weight; gotta love life.
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