Are you a stickler for good grammar and spotless spelling?

So are Jeff Deck and his fellow members of the self-appointed Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL).

TEAL launched a three month road trip in March, and its members have been making their way around the U.S. in search of the country’s worst typos. Their mission? “To stamp out as many typos as we can find, in public signage and other venues where innocent eyes may be befouled by vile stains on the delicate fabric of our language.”

They’ve made it from the East Coast to the West Coast and will be heading back to New England later this month. Keep up with their adventures by reading their blog.

And on your next trip, think about throwing a red pen in your bag.

Photo by Tom Bevan.

About The Author

Julie Schwietert

Julie Schwietert Collazo is a writer, editor, researcher, and translator currently in New York, formerly of Mexico City and San Juan. She is Matador's managing editor and is the lead faculty member of MatadorU's travel writing program.

  • Tim Patterson

    Typos can be pretty funny – I once collected photos of 'Engrish' in Japan – totally inane, but at least the Japanese don't mangle their own language.

    http://www.engrish.com

  • Julie

    Another favorite of mine: lost in translation gems. I started a file of these because they're so great. These two are from a kitchen colander, made (the colander and the translation, apparently) in China:

    "The series product are ingenious and artistic daily necessities benefit the warmhearted mood."

    and

    "It's made by antibacterial technology, and it's used for washing rice, and in advantage for the filtering of the rice brain [?!?!] and granulated substance seed in the meanwhile, it's hygenical to be used for filtering the moisture of the vegetables, fish, and shell, to avoid the scald by the hot oil in cooking, strewing, the elegant and exquisite while it's used for the conference room, living room, etc."

    Made in China.

    (*original punctuation preserved. The colander, by the way, cost $4.99.)

  • http://www.matadortrips.com Tim Patterson

    Typos can be pretty funny – I once collected photos of ‘Engrish’ in Japan – totally inane, but at least the Japanese don’t mangle their own language.

    http://www.engrish.com

  • http://www.collazoprojects.com Julie

    Another favorite of mine: lost in translation gems. I started a file of these because they’re so great. These two are from a kitchen colander, made (the colander and the translation, apparently) in China:

    “The series product are ingenious and artistic daily necessities benefit the warmhearted mood.”

    and

    “It’s made by antibacterial technology, and it’s used for washing rice, and in advantage for the filtering of the rice brain [?!?!] and granulated substance seed in the meanwhile, it’s hygenical to be used for filtering the moisture of the vegetables, fish, and shell, to avoid the scald by the hot oil in cooking, strewing, the elegant and exquisite while it’s used for the conference room, living room, etc.”

    Made in China.

    (*original punctuation preserved. The colander, by the way, cost $4.99.)

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