Tuesday, October 27, 2009

EZ Spelling

Years ago I bought a lawn mower and on the bag it had written, and I quote "Kwik & EZ Kleenup". I was a carefree teenager at the time but it still irritated me to see such lame spelling. It looked like Quiet Riot had done the spell check for that product. If you have ever read my posts then you know that I am the furthest thing from a strict speller. I don't jump down people's throats when they spell a word wrong and I have my fair share of spelling errors, but when words are intentionally and blatantly spelled wrong it bothers me.

Sometimes I see signs and banners like Sale-abration or Kar Kare, Kidney Kars, etc. The other day I was walking by a building and saw a small box that said EZ KLEAN rodent killer on it. Just last week I saw a store called Sav Mor (can I buy a vowel please?) Maybe the girls who wrote notes like "UR a QT Pie" in junior high have a future in marketing. I wonder when they started Krispy Kremes, if they experienced any opposition with the spelling of the name. Today there would be none. Toys R Us took it a step Further by not just using a letter instead of a word, but they also turned it around the wrong direction!

I'm sure the Internet and copyrights have only compounded the problem. I imagine many people want a name that is already taken so they just resort to messing up the spelling. I think that is one reason why many businesses spell their name wrong. They either don't want to infringe on the copyright of another business or they want to piggy back on the confusion. If I changed the name of my blog to ESPM, I could bank on all the sports enthusiasts with big fingers that would accidentally be directed my way.

I suggest you lump the practice of intentionally spelling words wrong into the category of drugs and remember to just say no. Spelling words wrong is acceptable if it's an accident, but when it's intentional it really sux.

11 comments:

Kristina P. said...

I do hate that stuff in a professional setting. Blog titles, etc., I'm fine with it. :)

Eve said...

I STRONGLY agree! I can handle the spelling issues if it at least makes sense - like a play on words, but when something is spelled wrong for no apparent reason (like your Kwik & EZ Kleenup), it just drives me crazy!! Has the world become so stupid that it seems appropriate and fun to flaunt it?

Everyday Goddess said...

Unless it's Krispy Kreme.

Lisa said...

I'm worried for my children, not just for the spelling but for the way they speak. But my son has assured me that he knows when to speak proper and when to speak lolz!

LegalMist said...

I hate when people intentionally spell "regular" names oddly, too - like "Whilyam" instead of "William." It does two things that are just wrong: (1) itguarantees that the child will spend his / her entire life having to tell people how to spell and pronounce his /her name; and (2) it makes it seem as if the parents were uneducated goobs who didn't know how to spell William properly.

If you want to give your kid a unique name, give him a unique name. Don't give him a "regular" name and misspell it, thinking that somehow makes it "unique"!!

Joanna Jenkins said...

I totally agree. It cracks me up that the people doing this think they are sooooo clever to. Ha!
xo

Pseudo said...

As a reacher who has to remember 180 names every year, I wish parents could agree o the spelling of popular names. EVERYONE wants to be different. Last year I had 6 Ashley's. Six different spellings.

Raine said...

I really hate "foto". Actually in most instances when an F replaces PH kinda pisses me off.

Eric said...

Sometimes the ancient Romans used to abbreviate, but just because the stone was kind of time consuming to carve into. But you won't find any deliberate misspellings to be 'kool'. No upside down writings to catch your attention either.

Polka Dot Moon said...

I'm still stuck at "EZ KLEAN" rodent killer......WOW! Really? I wonder if the poor thing explodes?

{and how about Pro Athletes - some of the strangest spelling I've ever seen!}

And I totally agree with you.

peewee said...

How 'bout the "kum and go" gas station. I always had a fondness for that. Or the 'Quik-e-Mart'. I mean, what's with the abbreviated porno names?

And what IS the K for in K-mart? Is that supposed to be like, "the OKAY mart!"