This is slightly off-topic, but since it relates to my career as a copy editor, I find it too good to pass up posting a link to this Associated Press story.
These two “typo vigilantes” decided it would be a good idea to correct misspellings and grammar on historic signs in the Grand Canyon. This brilliant idea landed them probation for a year and a $3,035 fine that will be used to repair the defaced sign.
Two self-styled vigilantes against typos who defaced a more than 60-year-old, hand-painted sign at Grand Canyon National Park were sentenced to probation and banned from national parks for a year. They had removed an extraneous apostrophe and added a comma to the sign.”
My favorite picture is used in the Chicago Tribune story (here’s the link) first published about these two dingbats. Although I’m jealous they were doing things I had only dreamed of doing, I am pretty disappointed that they used a Sharpie pen to make the Grand Canyon corrections.
Now, the thought to mark up mistakes myself crosses my mind occasionally, but I’m mature enough to restrain myself and instead just mutter about the poor grammar. I don’t whip out the red pen!
