Certain members of TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia have taken umbrage at the number of spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and typos hereabouts. Well, give our umbrage back! Kidding. Keep it. Meanwhile, I’m embarrassed. This site’s truthiness is its Unique Selling Point. But I also strive to produce the highest quality writing in the gunblogosphere. Stupid mistakes such as “they’re” instead of “their” reflect badly on my writing skillz  [sic]. They undermine TTAG’s credibility. In my defense, I write or edit ten blog posts a day, seven days a week. I do so here at casa Farago, with real world stuff swirling around my desk. In short, I do the best I can. And then edit constantly. If you see an irksome mistake, I’d appreciate it if you’d point it out in the comments. I’ll fix the error and delete your comment, protecting both my rep and the site’s. Fair enough?

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24 COMMENTS

  4. OK…. You asked for it! 😉 The title of this blog post has spelled “grammAr” incorrectly. There’s Kelsey GrammEr, the actor. But, they taught us grammAr in school. 😉

  5. And then edit constantly.

    I am also guilty – but it is best not to start sentences with a conjunction.

    The trick to proofreading is to learn to see what you are looking at, rather than seeing what you are supposed to see. Your brain automatically corrects the error. With practice and effort you can learn to recognize the feeling of the auto-correct and instead use it as a flag to fix the error in writing instead of only in your mind. If you master this skill your site will be better for it, but other sites will be a lot worse as you will perceive the errors. For common spelling errors, such as spelling grammar as grammer, I find FireFox’s spellcheck to be useful, at the expense of forgetting how to spell properly.

    • We former hypnotists call it “positive hallucination.” FWIW, it’s a sign of deep trance, not intellectual laziness. Or so I’d have you believe.

      And only hopeless pedants worry about starting sentences with conjunctions. [see: Gettysburg address]

    • The tcirk to proifreadong is to leran to see waht you are lonkiog at, rhtaer tahn seieng waht you are suepospd to see. Yuor biarn automatiaclly cotrecrs the eorrr. Wtih praitcce and effrot you can laern to rocegnize the feeilng of the atuo-cocrert and iestnad use it as a falg to fix the eorrr in wrtiing inetsad of olny in yuor mnid. If you mestar tihs slikl yuor stie wlil be bteter for it, but otehr siets wlil be a lot wrose as you wlil peicerve the errors. For common spelling eorrrs, scuh as spilleng grmmaar as grmamer, I fnid FierFox’s spelechlck to be useufl, at the epxense of forgentitg how to slepl proeprly.

    • As long as you don’t end your sentences with a preposition, for that is something up with I will not put.

  6. First, I’m impressed with the fact that Mr. Churchill is here to quote himself. Wow! How did that happen?

    Second, grammar aside, I often find your writing style unengaged or, perhaps, disengaging, in which you attempt to bring the reader into whatever it is you’re writing. I would imagine there are throngs waiting ever so eagerly to taste your next verbal delicacies that are likely every bit as much fact as it is your own perception of fiction or opinion (admittedly, sometimes its difficult to tell via mere text).

    Certainly one should write from where they are, and reading a “get-to-the-point-damn-it” story might be ever-s0-slightly drier than eating surplus hard tack, but most of the time it comes off as one who tries too hard to impress some impressionable masses who are just waiting to throw accolades in your direction.

    If that’s the case (and, admittedly, there’s nothing wrong with that as a goal), at least change the blog title to reflect such a goal. As it stands now, a more appropriate title might be “Things that I find ironic, amusing, bothersome, that may or may not have something to do with how I’m feeling about life today, and other posts that I take from gun blogs across the internet and present in a sometimes engaging way unless the person reading gets distracted in my first sentence or paragraph before moving on to see if there is any other entry in today’s selection worth ….and by this time it turns into Charlie Brown’s teacher going “wop wop wop wop wa wa…..”

    The ironic thing is that, there is just enough substance in some of your offerings that it keeps me coming back to see if today might just be one of those days …sort of like an old girlfriend who comes back into your life just long enough to remind you why she’s an old girlfriend.

    • Things that I find ironic, amusing, bothersome, that may or may not have something to do with how I’m feeling about life today, and other posts that I take from gun blogs across the internet and present in a sometimes engaging way unless the person reading gets distracted in my first sentence or paragraph before moving on to see if there is any other entry in today’s selection worth

      That url’s taken.

    • “Certainly one should write from where they are, and reading a “get-to-the-point-damn-it” story might be ever-s0-slightly drier than eating surplus hard tack, but most of the time it comes off as one who tries too hard to impress some impressionable masses who are just waiting to throw accolades in your direction.”

      Kettle, meet Pot…

    • “If that’s the case (and, admittedly, there’s nothing wrong with that as a goal)”

      I read that “goal” as “jail” in American. It’s funnier that way.

  7. If you wind up selling the site for 315 million dollars, remember the little people who helped proofread.

  9. Things that I find ironic, amusing, bothersome, that may or may not have something to do with how I’m feeling about life today, and other posts that I take from gun blogs across the internet and present in a sometimes engaging way unless the person reading gets distracted in my first sentence or paragraph before moving on to see if there is any other entry in today’s selection worth

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