Savile Row

Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile OBE KCSG. RIP.

Most of us in Leeds loved Jimmy Savile and we were saddened by his death. It won't be the same on the roads and in the restaurants of Roundhay without seeing him around.

There were many people talking about him on the day he died and I was interested to see whether his name was trending on twitter.

I quickly discovered that one of the reasons his name wasn't trending as much as I would have expected was that many people, including (rather surprisingly) BBC Look North's Facebook Page, were spelling it incorrectly: Saville rather than Savile.

It's an easy - and common - mistake to make but one that has irked me a little over the years.

In order to make amends, I tweeted.

I used the hashtags #jimmysavile and #jimmysaville because they were both being used in other tweets. As you can see, it's clear from the content of my message that I know how to spell his name correctly.

While I was looking at the trends, one tweet I came across asked a question.

I replied with an explanation.

A pretty straightforward answer as far as I can see.

But it yielded a somewhat predictable reply.

OK. In all fairness he's making a point in what appears to be good humour. After all, no one likes a smart arse. I didn't reply since antagonism is something I try to avoid.

In my defence, however, I would argue that I tweeted in order to help the correct spelling of Jimmy's name to trend rather than the incorrect one. And to give an honest, clear answer to the question he posed.

I'm pleased to say that JimmySavile did start trending eventually.

So all's well that ends well. Or so I thought.

A little later he tweeted again.

Hmm. Charming. Nevertheless an admirable example of defence via attack.

I'd like to know how he comes to that conclusion. I refer, of course, to my alleged misspelling, not to my state of mind. Though I think I'd be right in claiming that I'm neither of the names he called me.

Anyway, once more I didn't reply as I guessed it would just develop into a playground argument (didn't, did, didn't, did, etc) and prompt more name calling.

At the time of writing, he hasn't tweeted again. I'd like to think (but I don't know) that he's realised his error and has been shamed into silence.

So, if you come across Paul NG Hughes of East Kilbride, aka @poly_uk on twitter, please say Hi to him from me. And you're welcome to elucidate him on my behalf.

In the most polite way possible, of course.

This little piggy went wee wee

Thanks to Jon C. As featured in The Guardian earlier this year.

Here's the Guardian article in full.

Complete apostrophage

Oh my goodness. Where to start?

I spotted this one, which was displayed in a Brooklyn bar window, over on Apostrophe Abuse.

I particularly like how the 'designer' has dealt with the lack of room for the second L in FOOTBALL.

And after that, it's...well it's just downhill all the way to be honest.

If you see anything like this which you think the rest of us would enjoy, please send it to me at peter (at) mytypohumour (dot) com

I'll always acknowledge your contributions.

It's a fair bet

A fair bet that this is the unfortunate result of using a standard one-size-fits-all message template.

Thanks to Tom L, another of our regular readers, for sending it in.

If you have any similar daft messages or letters which you think others would enjoy, please send them to peter (at) mytypohumour (dotcom)

I'll acknowledge you and / or your web site if and when they're posted.

Sussex Express Village Idoicy

Thanks to Jon C who spotted this picture in a recent Private Eye article.

Canon Helix in Digital Cameras Review. What the...?

Don't let the title put you off. That's the easy part.

If anyone can make head or tale of the rest of this article, I'll...Well here in Leeds we have an expression concerning my backside and Lewis's shop window.

I don't promise to perform that particular act. Besides, it's infinitely more difficult now that Lewis's no longer exists.

But full marks to you if you can decipher any sense at all from what appears to me to be a random array of words.

I can't guarantee that the page still looks the same but here's a link to the original article.

This is the first section of the offending piece as it appeared in Digital Cameras Review on 7 October.

It doesn't improve...

And finally...

Anyone still in the building?

If so, one last thought. What on earth is an article about Web-to-Print software doing in a camera review anyway?

Banging on a big base drum

John H, one of our regular contributors, sent this pearl to peter (at) mytypohumour (dot com)

Please do the same if you see anything you think we'd all enjoy.

It's the first post of a thread he found on the Pearl Drummer's Forum.

As a drummer himself, John feels somewhat disloyal posting something which, in his words, 'belittles drummers'.

It reminds me of one of the many jokes about drummers, often repeated by drummers themselves.

What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend?

Homeless.

Learning kerning

For those of you who know about kerning, you might like to try your hand at this.

And for those who don't, it will help explain what it's all about.

You'll find it here.

Let me know your score. And I might reveal mine.

Disorientated after extraordinary rendition

Or simply lost in unusual translation.

Thanks to Greg L who submitted these beauties taken from chairmanlol.com and engrish.com

Proofreafer required

The interesting thing about today's post is that there isn't a typo.

At least, not now.

I came across this apology so naturally I was keen to find the original article.

It's not until you read the article that your mind begins to boggle. Click on it if you need to make it larger. Then click Back to come back here.

It's obvious that the article has been corrected since it was first published.

But exactly how many ducks suffered the infignity of being refuced to 'a word not fit for print' we can only imagine.

Physic has a teacher

Let's hope it's an English Teacher.

As advertised on behalf of IQ Education Recruitment a couple of weeks ago.

Also, there's only one School (sic) so it should be is looking not are looking, please.

Dunstable's prepostrophes

Spotted on Apostrophe Abuse.

This is the window display of a bespoke cake maker in Dunstable.

For some reason, Special Occasions are so special that they don't need an apostrophe.

Actually, they'd probably used up all the apostrophes they had by that time.

Auto (in)correct

Thanks to birthday boy John H for this one, spotted recently on Facebook.

Next comment... Daniel Doh