Archives

The quickest way to turn off a good segment of potential buyers is to make a stupid typographical or grammatical error in your ad...

Macon Mitsubushi New!: An actual ad for a Mitsubishi dealership that appeared in The Macon Telegraph. At least they spelled it right in their URL!
Quality Website Desgin New!: An actual banner ad spotted on Lockergnome.com back in 2006. Seriously, how did they miss this?
Athen's Best Student Living New!: Not sure where precisely this Athen place is, but apparently its best student living is at River Walk. From a kiosk at the Tate Student Center at the University of Georgia.
No lates fees: Spotted while surfing the web back in May 2005. They may have no lates fees, but it's the late fees you've got to watch out for...
Cool screeensaver, click to download.: An interstitial ad seen while browsing a group on Yahoo Groups. The comma splice is bad enough, but I guess this 'screeensaver' must be particularly worth checking out because of that extra 'e'.
In a prefect world, you are always professional — found by Amy Goldstein: Nobody's 'prefect', I guess. Not even Corel.
Click here to see a DVD sneak peak: From a banner ad on ifilm.com. What, does this mean there's a mountain of Babylon 5 DVDs out there somewhere?
Shoot the ganster and get a free laptop: Yet another banner ad. I'd gladly shoot the ganster, if I knew what in the world a ganster was.
...it may be infeceted with Adware or Spyware: From an ad for an anti-spyware product spotted on some site or another. Infeceted... sounds even more disgusting when it's spelled that way.
Air Force Reserve Intellegence: Oh, the irony. Pointed out in this Fark.com post; it's since been corrected, but I saved the evidence for posterity.
Don't Pay To Much: From a local TV ad for mobile homes. Then again, I shouldn't expect 'to' much from an ad for mobile homes...
...the nation's largest accredited univeristy — found by cheekybaby: From a University of Phoenix banner ad. Great claim to fame, but I wonder if they're the largest accredited university as well.
Asociate's, Bachelor's, Master's — found by cheekybaby: Another University of Phoenix banner ad. I'd rather go for the Bachelor's or Master's; not only are they more prestigious, they're spelled correctly.
Get a roomate: What, is that like a friend for your pet kangaroo?
Fresh roses, sweat treats, and more — found by Gairid: From a Google AdWords ad for Wal-Mart. Ewwww...I don't want any sweat treats, thank you.
At Webdate, you can meet thounsands with just one click!: Obviously not the best dating service for us compulsive proofreaders.
Better, Stonger, Faster — found by halomouse: From an ad displayed in AOL Instant Messenger. Anyone else reminded of "Stong Bad"?
You been selected to receive 2 FREE Star Tickets...: I don't know about you, but I really hope that this ad's proofreader been fired.
Kappa Sigma Batchelor Auction: A local fraternity posted numerous copies of this flyer in the university dining hall. Too bad they can't learn to use a spell checker.
Subfeature, small photo: Somehow, this inexplicable line of text found its way into a promotion on the Macon Telegraph's website.
Who says Germans make the best luxery cars — found by Nyperold: Who says sentences don't end in question marks? Who says "luxury" has an "e" in it? Obviously the writers of this ad do.
Your Today's Lucky Winner! — found by Nyperold: Further proof that some internet advertisers are just clueless on several counts.
Bian Venidos Amigos — found by Nyperold: I don't know about you, but I'd have second thoughts about eating at a Mexican restaurant whose grasp of Spanish isn't exactly bien.
But It! Sell It! — found by Nyperold: For shoppers who are as stubborn as goats?
Elluding / ellusive — found by Sarah Brand: I guess correct spelling is just as elusive for these advertisers as wealth is for their target market...
Improve you're system stability: An actual "fake user interface" ad I found on the web a while back. This type of ad is annoying and insulting enough already, and bad proofreading only makes it worse. (In addition, note that they're not even consistent with their bad grammar!)
Fax this application to 000-000-0000...: From a local auto dealership ad. Try as I might, I keep getting an operator when I try to fax this...
1 Individul Side — found by Nyperold: A coupon from a Kentucky Fried Chicken ad. Yes, it's only a minor typo, but what's odd is that the same word was spelled correctly in the ad's other coupons.
Daily Triva: From an ad spotted on various newspaper sites (originally animated, but presented as stills here). You'd think they'd know better, wouldn't you?
Grab a mint julip: Another ad spotted on various Knight-Ridder newspaper sites. Amusingly, it was corrected within a day or so, but we've got the evidence... (And no, I don't drink, but even I know it's spelled julep.)
Recomended — found by Amy Goldstein: An ad from the website for the iMesh file sharing software.
Get less busy signals: From an ad for the Microsoft Network internet service. Call me prescriptivist, but this just doesn't sound as good as 'fewer' here...
Your're a winner - Congratulation! — found by Nyperold: Oddly reminiscent of some badly translated Japanese video games, isn't it?
$500 Off: A forgotten superscript can drastically change the value of a coupon. (And I'm tempted to redeem this at face value, too...)
Colombia County — found by Nyperold: From a cellular phone ad distributed in Florida. The country in South America is spelled Colombia; the Florida county, on the other hand, is spelled Columbia. Any questions?
The Elivish kingdom — found by Sundragyn: As the contributor writes, "I suppose that's where the Elives live."
...student loan debt in exess of $10,000...: You'd think that, for something targeted at college students, they'd attempt to do some cursory proofreading.
I have been want extra income — found by Sundragyn: The grammar here is reminiscent of Zero Wing, and interestingly enough, this ad was found on Zany Video Game Quotes. (Oh, and also, the contributor is Canadian. So much for targeted advertising.)
Survey Savvy ad — found by Nyperold: "No you want be a millionaire"? "Every survey the take"? "Keep checking back for more survey companies will be add soon"? My head hurts.
What did Lucy call here son? — found by Nyperold: A pop-up window displayed while surfing various web sites. I'll leave the comments to the contributor: "I suppose they could have phrased it, 'On I Love Lucy, what did Ricky and Lucy call there son?'"
What's Home Simpson's wife's name? — found by Nyperold: Another pop-up window. Yes, we know it's supposed to be Homer, but still, the thought of the Simpsons' house having a wife is just too good to pass up... (And as the contributor joked, would it be named "Mobile"?)
Moutainside: DaimlerChrysler identifies the song which is played in a recent Dodge Ram ad. Too bad they can't spell it.
I am over 25, live in the US, and looking for a date: Sure, that's nice and all. But I'm much more interested in girls who understand parallel sentence structure, thank you...
No Credit Card Committment: From a banner ad for the Hotwire travel service. Again, I ask: Do these ad writers ever use spelling checkers?
We can adjust the spicy... — found by Nyperold: From a newspaper advertisement for a Chinese restaurant in Florida.
Pinãta — found by Eric Sleator: I'm not even going to attempt to guess how this would be pronounced with the tilde there.
They Heard Gergia Singing: My lovely home state misspelled not once but twice in an ad spotted at radio-locator.com.
See Important & Conditions — found by Nyperold: To paraphrase Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this is obviously some strange usage of the word "important" that I wasn't previously aware of.
Dont Click Here: OK, since I care about grammatical integrity, I wont click your stupid banner.
Kid's Eat Free — found by Nyperold: Kid is eat free? No...wait...maybe "kid's" is possessive? Wait, that can't be right either...
Hard Work Has It's Rewards: Also from the Marriott Courtyard guest info booklet. Apparently this particular ad can be found in Marriotts nationwide... [Sorry for the poor quality; my camera wasn't wanting to focus very well at the time.]
Need features Eddie: From a department store ad. Apparently Eddie never gave this guy the list of features.
No Securuty Deposit — found by Nyperold: To quote the contributor, "they got stuck in a secu-rut." *groan*
Disapear — found by Nyperold: A banner ad for UBid. Apparently the letters in their ad are disappearing just as fast as the deals...
This great deal, won't last! — found by Nyperold: Another UBid ad. Apparently the missing "p" from the previous ad mutated into a comma and came here instead.
Free shippping: Another ad for egghead.com. I wonder if they do their shipping through a partnership with "Scrippps"-Howard?
Watermelon Captial: From a newspaper ad by the Cordele, GA Chamber of Commerce. The typo might be excusable, if it weren't repeated later in the ad. Also note the reference to "enterainment".
#1...Among Consumer Electonic Category Leaders: A banner displayed during a browsing session at egghead.com. I suppose Egghead's somewhat let down that they didn't place number one in consumer electronics as well...
Nursury — found by Nyperold: A banner ad selling X10's "Big Brother" surveillance camera. Perhaps they should have used one of these cameras to monitor their oh-so-diligent proofreaders.
Experienced litary agents: A classified ad from a local newspaper. I don't know about you, but I'd be somewhat leery of writing for these guys. Also note the misspelled "catagories".
Do verticle stripes really slim?: An AltaVista banner ad spotted while surfing the web. What's even scarier is that an AltaVista search for "verticle" produces over 16,000 hits...
Check the weather at your in-laws — found by Ellmyruh: OK, so it's a run-of-the-mill missing apostrophe. Still, I can't help but think that the weather at one's in-laws is 98.6°F and humid.

Books

We admit, proofreading a paper of under ten pages can be quite a difficult task, and proofreading a novel of several hundred pages must be extremely so. Yet even then, some typos are just plain inexcusable...

Charlottë Bronte [From the Tor edition of Jane Eyre]: Rule #1: When writing a biographical preface, spell the author's name correctly. And yes, this includes accent marks.

News & Magazines

Because of the short deadlines involved, newspapers and magazines are often filled with proofreading errors which otherwise might have been quickly caught...

Bush Seeks $87Bn in Anti-Terrot Gund New!: From an Associated Press article posted on ABCNews.com in September of 2003. One must admit that it sounds surprisingly like a Bushism, even though it isn't.
Allston has long been seen as a future locust of science research New! — found by Alison Miller: From the January 12, 2007 edition of The Harvard Crimson. Doesn't sound like much of a compliment to Allston when it's put that way...
New York State Departmentportationion and Finance New! — found by ms_cucumber: Now there's a department I've never heard of before. From the online version of The New York Times on September 19, 2006; interestingly, this error was not in the printed version.
Steelers win; Ward named MPV New!: If the Athens Banner-Herald was to be believed, Georgia's own Hines Ward became a minivan after the 2006 Super Bowl.
94,400 pounds of frozen ground beef panties: Originally pointed out in this post at BoingBoing.net and also picked up by Regret The Error, this Reuters gaffe was just too hilarious to ignore.
Star Wars fans shows appreciation after Atlanta premiere: Yep, we fans sure does shows appreciation, all right. From The Macon Telegraph, May 12, 2005.
Wayward Cessna Triggers Massive Security Repsonse — found by Paul McCord: At least it didn't trigger a massive security response... From the Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2005.
Former governor's says he will still work to change country: From The Macon Telegraph, February 19, 2004. Former governor's what? Don't leave us hanging!
From snowboarders to executives, men prove their strong enough to purl — found by poppinjaye: But what about their strong enough to purl? This one's since been corrected, but as always, I've captured a screenshot of what the headline originally looked like when it was first posted.
Senators Block Initiative to Band Same-Sex Unions: From the New York Times, a typo that makes the headline mean the opposite of what it should.
U.S. continues to tightens security: The Macon Telegraph goes to infinitive and beyond in this headline typo. (Awful pun, I know...)
Study Exmaines How Schools Can Ease Asthma — found by linguafranca: Ex-Maines... does that have anything to do with that Dixie Chicks singer?
The girl rests on her father's soldier... — found by kymster: From a CNN.com article. Reminds me of a misheard lyric of mine: ♪ And I'll be your cryin' soldier... ♪
Broadway shines bright for other fist-timers — found by king_duncan: From newsday.com. Fist-timers... sounds like something that might be used in the boxing ring.
...those willing to pay Russian roulette with the copyright police... — found by PsychoticSarah: From washingtonpost.com. Last time I checked, one played Russian roulette, though one might pay a high price in doing so...
Preventing false alarms can be prevented — found by rainbow_goddess: From the Victoria (BC) Times-Colonist. I'd prefer to prevent false alarms rather than to prevent their prevention...
...the Doom worm currently reeking havoc across the globe — found by Kat: From a Techworld.com article. I suppose you could say that, in a way, these computer viruses stink.
...military couples rush to exchange vowels...: From a news article at News 14 Carolina that still hasn't been corrected. I suppose such a custom might be useful with consonant-heavy Slavic names...
Did single animal spread moneypox?: For those who didn't keep track of the news, there was a disease called monkeypox that was spread by certain animals. I think the disease mentioned in this MSNBC typo is more intriguing, however.
Pacers don't relish boy-boy image: From a February 2002 article on MSNBC which was corrected shortly afterward. The headline was supposed to read "bad-boy", but MSNBC's typo lends an entirely different meaning to the article!
Kasparov, Computer Tie in Chest Match: An AP article via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Funny, I'd have thought Kasparov would win since computers don't have chests...
Most were runwaways — found by Nyperold: Once again, a typo makes its way into a rather prominent headline.
Holly and Frazier fur decorate a Forsyth home: From the Macon Telegraph some time in December of 2002. Perhaps plants and animals aren't so different after all...
...he was running run for president... — found by JalendaviLady: An interestingly redundant typo from a headline that appeared on the New York Times website on 13 January 2003.
Colorado remained four behinds behind... — found by LuckyWizard: Another rather redundant typo, this one from the Denver Post site. I suppose one does quite often fall on one's rear in hockey, but I think the authors probably meant "games".
...scored two girls... — found by veegee: From the Glenwood Post in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. I wish I could be that lucky! ;-)
Questions emerge in kipnapping: This error remained in a headline on the Macon Telegraph's website for an entire day. You'd think it would have been corrected far sooner, but no...
Downdown buildings burned again: Another error from the Macon Telegraph's website, this one was corrected within a few hours of its posting.
Teach our children reading, writing, arithetic... — found by Paul McCord: Methinks the protester depicted in this file photo doesn't realize the irony inherent in the sign he's holding.
Pubic School: From a newspaper phone-in column. Further proof of that variation of Murphy's Law stating that all corrections to grammatical or spelling mistakes will have an error in themselves... (And while we're on the subject, wouldn't a pubic school actually be quite private? *groan*)

Software

Yes, it's true that many computer geeks don't have the slightest concerns about grammar and spelling. Just don't mention that to the Hall of Shame curator. :)

Spell converstion / Spell utiltiy New!: From the help file to version 8 of Corel WordPerfect. This one's just dripping with irony.
...whenvever one is available... New!: The dialog box displayed in iTunes 7.2 when the iTunes Plus option is activated.
For more advanced control of Zones, including netwoking...: From an earlier version of the ZoneAlarm firewall software; it's since been corrected. Sounds like something that goes on at a Chinese restaurant, doesn't it?
Sydney, Austrailia — found by LuckyWizard: You'd think AOL would be able to proofread things like this just a little more closely, now, wouldn't you?
Installation can take up to 20 minutes or longer — found by Esteban M-E: It may take less than 20 minutes, or it may take longer; that surely narrows it down, doesn't it?
...it's hypertext based search engine: From the packaging for the Concise Oxford Dictionary CD-ROM. Apparently whoever was responsible for the packaging didn't want to actually use the product within. Also, note the curious non-word "donít", which most likely stems from a bad Mac-PC conversion.
1 Objects / 1 Bytes: Y'know how Windows used to display such prompts as "1 file(s) found"? Well, apparently, that annoyed people, and those pesky parentheses were removed in Windows XP. Unfortunately, things are now worse, at least from a grammatical standpoint, than they had been.
1 days left for activation — found by Sosiqui: Like the Windows Explorer screen featured above, more proof that Microsoft has suddenly lost track of simple English grammar.
Avacados — found by yanz38: Misspelled twice in a diet-related menu on America Online. Avacado...is that what you get when you crossbreed an avocado and a cow?
Winpopop: Wow. It's pretty sad when Microsoft can't even spell the name of their own applet.
Contact you system administrator — found by Nyperold: An actual error message from the install program for Microsoft Office.
Warning you are about to change your Internet settings — found by Nyperold: Another Microsoft Windows error message. I think it reeks of bad grammar on several counts...
Bodyybuilder: This screen shot comes from the American Heritage Talking Dictionary CD-ROM. Ironic, no?
Dowload: From the guidebook for the Microsoft Reader e-book viewer.
An chat message / Recieved: From Netscape 6 Preview Release 2. Guess that's why it was a beta. (And yes, it's been corrected in the final release...)

TV & Movies

Surprising as it may seem, TV and film are no more immune to the mistakes we love here at the Proofreader's Hall of Shame than any other medium.

...there's no limit to what I can accompish. New!: From one of Hiro Nakamura's subtitles in episode 12 of NBC's TV show Heroes. A minor typo, sure, but I notice these things.
Tuesday, Dec. 30nd at 7:00pm — found by amnewsboy: From a TV promo. How do you pronounce that? Thirtiend?
Shinning Star: From an info graphic on a local news broadcast. Fittingly enough, it's the same station that shows The Simpsons.
Tommorow at 9:00 AM: Another local TV promo, which could've benefited from a quick spell check.
On it's way!: From Paramount's scientifically questionable sci-fi movie The Core, this screen shot shows apostrophe abuse at its finest.
Toyko International Airport: From the movie Austin Powers: Goldmember comes this misspelled subtitle. Just because it's a comedy doesn't mean you shouldn't learn how to properly spell one of its settings...
New Zion Baptish Church: Not exactly Baptist, just vaguely similar, I suppose.
ddssgoovvernmentaaccesss: The message at the bottom of the screen has remained for months on an unused cable channel which formerly housed an out-of-town ABC affiliate. Our focus, however, is on the recent "addition" to the message, located at the top of the screen...
First 200 atheletes...: Spotted on another cable access channel, this one used by-- you guessed it-- the public school system. [Pertinent names have been obscured to protect the guilty...]

Video Game Stuff

A separate category for video-game-related entries. Why, you ask? Well...why not?

20,00 Martians Under the Sea — found by Nyperold: A collectible card from Nintendo Power which creates a rather unusual number by leaving out one of the zeroes.
An option that let's... — found by Nyperold: From the manual to SimCity for the Super Nintendo. I guess superfluous apostrophes aren't limited to greengrocers anymore...
Besure to take them out one ata time — found by Nyperold: From the "Counselors' Corner" column in the July/August 1988 issue of Nintendo Power magazine comes this hint on how to deal with mummies in Castlevania. (This doesn't make all too bad advice on how to obliterate typographical errors, either.)
Super Marion Bros. 2 — found by Nyperold: From Nintendo Power's January/February 1989 "Celebrity Profile" of volleyball player Karch Kiraly. We can only wonder why he didn't buy the more popular Super Mario Bros. 2 instead...
Racoon / Raccoon: From Nintendo Power's official Super Mario Bros. 3 strategy guide. Yes, "racoon" is an acceptable spelling-- but at least the editors could have been consistent within the same page...

The World Wide Web

Sure, the web is full of typos and grammatical errors. I can understand typos on personal pages... but on professional sites?!

Image server memory: 5.8 seconds; Height: 256 tones; Tray Capacity: 128MB; etc. New! — found by 'ingsoc' at Worse Than Failure: This one's just unbelievable. A rather...interesting set of specifications for a multifunction printer from Canon, still uncorrected on Canon's site as of July 29, 2007.
Edison Labratory, Menlo Park, NJ New!: A caption from the online game that accompanied NBC's 2006 reality show "Treasure Hunters". Labratory... is that where lab rats are kept?
1 pound supermarket's refrigerator or freezer section, divided into 4-ounce pieces New! — found by spicysaurus: That's going to make an awfully inedible pizza. From this Rachael Ray recipe on Yahoo, still uncorrected as of July 1, 2007.
2005 Champion Anurag Kashyup: Found on the National Spelling Bee web site on June 5, 2004. For the record, the winner's name is spelled 'Kashyap'. Now that's irony.
General populice — found by anaxareteia: Found in the entry for 'Middle America' on thesaurus.com. Populice... does that mean lousy people?
Athens and the unversity in 1840: The University of Georgia: Like 7-Up, it's the un-versity!
Your phone is on it's way!: It's interesting how this particular error in this particular phrase keeps popping up; see also The Core and AIM. This time, it's from an order confirmation from Virgin's US mobile phone service.
...questions about the student's parents': Government legalese on the FAFSA is made even harder to parse thanks to repeated misuse of apostrophes.
On it's way!: I guess the screen shot from The Core isn't too far off from reality, as evidenced by this screen shot from the AOL Instant Messenger web site.
Misson Not Accomplished — found by mindme: It's since been corrected, but the Democratic National Convention had quite an embarrassing typo in this graphic on their site.
Fist Look: Star Wars DVD Packaging: Gotta love prominent typos in images on major web sites; this one's from StarWars.com. Also note how "Wars" is italicized but "Star" isn't.
First-year, Second-year Gradudate Student: From an online questionnaire by the makers of the Graduate Record Examination... or, should I say, the Gradudate Record Examination.
Battistoni to Lecture on Civic Engagment Day: This headline was posted on Mercer University's website in early 2004. Engag me with a spoon!
Mistakes happens. — found by tancaliel: As this screen shot from the Yahoo Messenger site shows, mistakes do indeed happen, at least with respect to subject-verb agreement.
We are exited and proud... — found by Catherine Miller: From an article about a scholarship given to the spelling bee contestants featured in the movie Spellbound. The irony here is just astounding.
Flying Solo? Maybe Your A Loner: Spotted on AOL Instant Messenger's 'Today' screen some time in mid-2003. How did this get past the proofreaders?
...the cool, trendy styles your looking for: An actual promotion displayed on JCPenney.com some time in 2003. How did they not notice this?
Take the walktrough tour: Walktrough? Sounds rather unappealing to me.
I would of hoped...AID was working with a secure severer — found by LuckyWizard: So much wrong here, I don't know where to start. "Would of"? "Severer"? "One officer who was named"?
Using matrix transforms to add exitement to your Web pages — found by LuckyWizard: From the Microsoft Developer Network website. Honestly, you'd think they'd be able to afford a better proofreader, wouldn't you?
Best and brighest — found by Ari Goldstein: From an article on the Fox Sports web site.
If you don not see...: From the official Terminator 3 web site. I didn't know Don Knotts had any part in it! :-)
Get your own webiste — found by Nyperold: Spotted in the advertisement area that is attached to all Angelfire member pages. I'll admit that the typo has a rather French sound to it. Je suis un webiste...
It's Simply... — found by Randy: A message posted on the University of Nevada's site at some time in the past. Apparently "simply" has now become an adjective.
San Serif — found by Nyperold: A double whammy: first of all, it's "sans serif", and second of all, that's not a serif font.
Defualt Ad — found by Nyperold: Wow. A double whammy; not only could they not configure the script correctly, the error message is also misspelled.
...in a bequtiful manner — found by Sosiqui: From CandyDirect.com. Was this typed by someone accustomed to the French AZERTY keyboard layout, I wonder?
Lobster, Oyster, Clamps... — found by MimeInAShoebox: From thebountyrestaurant.com. Ouch. Clamps. Wouldn't eating those rather hurt one's jaw?
Comtemporary, sous ched, seafoos, accouts — found by MimeInAShoebox: From a page on Guam.net. Perhaps there's a need for more proofreaders on Guam?
0h, give thyself the thanks... — found by Sosiqui: Shakespeare, unwittingly given the h4x0r treatment by BlueMountain. (And incidentally...Sonnet 38? I'm amused.)
Were such good friends... — found by Sosiqui: From a BlueMountain e-card. I suppose this implies that the sender and receiver aren't such good friends anymore; amazing how sloppy proofreading can break up a relationship so easily, eh?
...Indentify School Districts... — found by yanz38: If TheSchoolReport.com could "indentify" the school system from which its proofreader graduated, that would be really nice...
...more preciesely tailored web content — found by MimeInAShoebox: A caption-- stored in graphical form, no less-- on the web site for LiveWorld, the marketing division of TalkCity.
Take a break and excercise your brain... — found by Amy Goldstein: Go figure. It's a web page on Real.com promoting a word game. How ironic, indeed.
Hailing a cab on online — found by Sosiqui: First it's "goto to" on Yahoo Webring; now this from MSNBC. Will the redundancy ever end?
Hotmail Chain Letter 1
Hotmail Chain Letter 2 — found by Marvin: Yes, we know these aren't official Hotmail notices. What gives it away? Eh, we'll start with the sloppy proofreading...
Goto to here: A new standard in redundancy! Also note the rather unusual spelling of "creatd"; perhaps they were influenced by the band Staind...
Chapter uploading are not longer allowed — found by Nyperold: An error message displayed at fanfiction.net. Is it just me, or does this reek of Engrish?
Dobgert — found by MimeInAShoebox: Similar to the Nescape typo featured elsewhere in this section, here's another official site which can't spell its own trademark. (For the record, it's supposed to be Dogbert.)
Advanced Managed Hosting of Tommorow: An error spotted on HostRocket.com, which has since been corrected; however, for those who wish to look, there are still numerous other instances of sloppy proofreading on the page even today.
Nescape Web Sites: This ad was spotted, of all places, on netscape.com. It's a shame when a company can't even spell its own name right, eh? (And is it just me, or does this typo remind anyone else of Nescafé?)
The United States celebrates it's 225th birthday: Spotted on July 4, 2001, on Excite's now-defunct broadband portal.
You can write HMTL... — found by Nyperold: Apparently this is some new variation of HTML that I haven't yet heard of.
The posting you we're trying to read... — found by JP Balletta: Perhaps the most unusual placement of an apostrophe that we've ever seen, spotted in an error message at Teen.com.
...select a valid option before continue — found by Nyperold: An error message found on cartogra.com when you click on the "continue" arrow without selecting a photo.
Grammy nomininees: Pererhaps the MP3.com webebmaster hadad a slight stututter.
Quailty — found by Sakura: To quote the submitter, "Heh. I wouldn't expect very high 'quailty' from a server with a typo like that on their page..."
...tried to dowload... — found by Nyperold: First spotted in Microsoft Reader, this typo has since been found on an error page on GamingDepot.com. Typosis is contagious!
Spelling knwledge: I was quite amused when I noticed this typo on MSNBC's web site, considering the subject of the article.
Working dilligently — found by Nyperold: As the contributor suggests, MP3.com must have really been in a pickle...
There are 1 user — found by Nyperold: According to the contributor: "A message you get when you enter a previously empty chat room powered by Multicity.com. At least, I think so, as there are only 1 Multicity-powered chat room that I've been in..."
A free Hotmail account let's you...: From a logon screen on msn.com. Was this written by the same people as the SimCity manual shown in the Video Games section?
Scrippps
declard: Two typos which appeared on an earlier version of the National Spelling Bee homepage. [The curator of the Hall of Shame pointed these typos out to the Spelling Bee webmaster...]
Its free!: From the log-on screen for Yahoo Games.
oringinal / your are — found by Nyperold: A not-so-helpful hint displayed on Altavista's Babelfish translator, sure to produce an imperfect translation when run through Babelfish.
Need nore information? — found by Nyperold: An ad which appeared on Netscape's SmartDownload utility. I couldn't decide whether to put this in Ads, Software, or Web; I need nore time to think about it.
futher / comman — found by Tubba: From a British ISP's troubleshooting page. Perhaps they should start proofreading "futher" so that they'll notice some fairly "comman" mistakes.

Miscellaneous

Various and sundry things that wouldn't really fit into any of the other categories.

Still and Sparkilng New!: This sign advertised the two varieties of water available from the dispenser in UGA's Snelling Dining Commons. It has since been replaced with one that's actually spelled correctly.
Resident Manger New!: A sign for Family and Graduate Housing at the University of Georgia. I suppose a resident manger would be useful for the veterinary school that's just down the road...
Most new catena...comepletely new to come into the market New!: From the packaging for a toy truck. Once again, I ask: could the Chinese manufacturers not find a single English-speaking copy editor?
Orignal Sour Cream — found by testaclese: Not only is Kroger's sour cream 'orignal', so is the spelling on its packaging.
Seabed World Lamp Linghting Move: A note to Chinese manufacturers: It would really improve your image if you could get a native English speaker to proofread at least the prominent text on your packaging...
Soft doth, pacer towel, etc.: Wow. This is why you should get a native English speaker to proofread your instructions.
We can alter the spininess according to your taste: From a local Chinese restaurant's menu. Personally, I think spiny food would be quite painful to eat...
You will be happy be receipt of good news — found by JalendaviLady: To paraphrase a certain badly translated video game, all your fortune cookie are belong to the Proofreader's Hall of Shame.
Now! Excepting Applications — found by ang: Good to know that if I apply, I probably won't make it; that saves quite a lot of trouble, really...
Attention: Box Holdar — found by JalendaviLady: Sad to say, this one inspired a running joke about "Holdar the Procrastinator" within my circle of friends. We're such easily amused geeks.
...but there is little time for mi is attacked by a Zaibach spy...: A rather bizarre cut-and-paste mangling from the third Vision of Escaflowne DVD.
Jazz Appreciaton Month: Found on a Smithsonian-sponsored sign in Mercer's music building. 2,000 pounds' worth of appreciation, I suppose...
No diary products — found by Alison Miller: As the contributor quips, the diaries might not be good for the manufacturing system.
Street Adress — found by Nyperold: From a registration form of some sort; the contributor didn't provide much detail as to the source.
...our customer's baggage...: Spotted in the baggage claim area at Hartsfield Atlanta Airport. Pretty sad, really; the busiest airport in the world, and they only have one customer...
Unauthorized reproduction is prohibed by law — found by Nyperold: As the contributor muses, "is good proofreading before the release also 'prohibed'?"
Guaranteed Acccuracy: ...except in proofreading the package.
Not recommand for dishwasher — found by Nyperold: Found on the bottom of a set of salt and pepper shakers.
Battery may explore or leak: Sounds like it could be the plot for a really bad sci-fi movie.
Requfency Range: I've seen some interesting misspellings of the word "frequency", but this one from a portable radio/CD player takes the cake as the most unusual.
The Most Powerful 3D Game Card of the New 21th Century — found by JP Balletta: This lovely bit of Engrish was found on an off-brand, NVidia-based graphics card. The question, of course, is whether it's pronounced "twenty-firth" or "twenty-oneth"...
Cut with scisssors to remove — found by Nyperold: And go ahead and cut one of the S's off this label while you're at it, I guess.
...when manufacturing defect is detscted... — found by Kaz: From the back of a CD-RW disc; plenty of errors to be found. I got the feeling that it was a bad translation from some Far Eastern language, and indeed, the manufacturer is headquartered in Taiwan...
In-Room Dinning
In-Room Dinning Menu: Both of these were spotted in the guest information booklet at the Marriott Courtyard Midtown East hotel in New York City. Hey, it's the "city that never sleeps"; isn't it appropriate that they'll come up to the room and make some noise if it's needed?
Pizza as it's Mean to Be: From the menu for Ray's Pizza in Times Square. Pizza with the stereotypical New York attitude?
...prepares an foods fresh...: Also from the Ray's Pizza menu. The pizza's excellent, but the menu reeks of rather poor proofreading, heh.