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Pedants' corner

Good grief!

(39 Posts)
GillT57 Mon 17-Aug-15 19:09:28

On our village Facebook page, someone was selling a pine chester draws.....Now, it does sound like what she was selling, but honestly, don't people realise that it is drawers and a chest. This village is also a sort after area confused according to the estate agent....

Luckygirl Mon 17-Aug-15 19:38:05

Love it!

Anne58 Mon 17-Aug-15 19:38:14

I share your grief!

I saw a notice in a local shop advertising a reduced price bed with storage "draws" underneath.

The estate agent has no excuse, rather like the recruitment person who contacted me wanting to discuss some current vaccines she has confused

merlotgran Mon 17-Aug-15 20:09:50

DS used to think he had a chester draws in his bedroom but at least he had the excuse he was only four.

absent Mon 17-Aug-15 20:20:20

Maybe it was a clever ruse to draw people's attention.

Ana Mon 17-Aug-15 20:20:25

You see 'drawers' spelled as 'draws' all over the place these days, shops, websites, local ads. But 'chester draws' is a classic! grin

hildajenniJ Mon 17-Aug-15 21:12:46

Chester is a lovely wooden chap, I wonder what he draws!grin

Indinana Mon 17-Aug-15 21:39:48

I remember having a 5/- poster lorder for my 7th birthday.

Indinana Mon 17-Aug-15 21:40:24

That's Five Shillings for the youngsters on here wink

Bellanonna Mon 17-Aug-15 22:33:49

..... Or 25p

GillT57 Thu 20-Aug-15 13:26:39

Indinana I too used to get five shilling poster lorders for birthdays! I know that in the grand scheme of things that 'chester draws' doesn't really matter, but it annoys me, don't people read anymore? If you even flick through the IKEA catalogue you will see many a 'chest of drawers'. My DD shares my pedantic ways high standards blush and corrected a poster in our village hall which was offering tuition in 'english, french, .....without capital letters.

Indinana Thu 20-Aug-15 14:20:15

Yes of course, Bellanonna - goodness, 25p doesn't sound much to get excited about does it? Five shillings sounds much better!
I have to agree with you GillT57, it seems absurd for any adult to believe it's a chester draws. That would irritate me too. As for the tuition in english and french, I seriously hope they don't get any takers. Very concerning if parents of children needing extra tuition thought that was excusable hmm

Indinana Thu 20-Aug-15 14:21:42

I think I should have typed 'english' and 'french' - wouldn't want anyone thinking the lower case initial letters were my mistake grin

PRINTMISS Thu 20-Aug-15 15:17:05

Love the story of the daughter of a friend of mine. She was going to a fancy dress party at her school and her father (our friend) pinned a pair of knickers on her chest, with the words "Chest of Drawers" She came first.

Nonnie Thu 20-Aug-15 15:27:24

Pheonix When did you last use an estate agent? Must have been ages ago as imo they are not particularly literate. 'Comprises of', every word beginning with a capital, no idea what to do with an apostophe. I could go on and on............................

numberplease Fri 21-Aug-15 01:48:01

I`ve lost count of the number of ads I`ve seen for touring caravans for sale, that are advertised as having whatever number of births, rather than berths. Makes me imagine lots of babies being born whilst their mums are on holiday!

thatbags Fri 21-Aug-15 06:31:04

Chuckle! I think that's understandable though. We don't use the word berth much nowadays. People just say beds, or "sleeps four". People below a certain age or with no knowledge of boats (you know, yachts, those floating caravans) may never have come across the word berth written down. It sounds the same as birth.

Deedaa Sun 23-Aug-15 21:22:57

My DD texted me while she was on holiday to tell me which draw the cat's brush was in. When I remonstrated she claimed that it had been a long day and she was tired grin And she got a A for A Level English!

BlackeyedSusan Mon 24-Aug-15 23:00:57

The five shillings I got, the postal order took more working out. blush

... and I hope they cleaned up the upholstery in those vans. They have potential to be very mucky after all those births.

Sugarpufffairy Mon 24-Aug-15 23:13:59

Estate Agents are the best for a good laugh for those of us old enough to count without a calculator and spell without spell checkers.
I just love deceptively spacious (are room sizes flexible now?) and sizeable garden (are gardens difficult to measure and they have mastered how to get the size)
SPF

gettingonabit Mon 21-Sept-15 09:40:21

A job alert came up on my email asking for an operative with "dextrose fingers". Took me a while to work out they probably meant "dexterous". (or is it "dextrous"?).

henetha Mon 21-Sept-15 10:19:49

I'm drawn to this thread. My chest is heaving with laughter. grin

Luckygirl Mon 21-Sept-15 10:29:31

I can never understand why the companies that paint logos etc. on the sides of vans, or make banners etc. do not tell the punters they have got it wrong. A builder's van in our drive had a row of apostrophes all over his van where none should have been.

gettingonabit Mon 21-Sept-15 13:12:14

Nor me, luckygirl, unless of course the logo-painters don't know either. Depressing thought...

Nelliemoser Wed 23-Sept-15 09:10:36

There is a mobility equipment company which comes to local markets
whose van had? still has the slogan "For your piece of mind."

This sort of error annoys me intensely. There is no excuse. Some grammatical oddities are down to local dialects, but we seem to see more and more of these spelling errors these days.