Moronic Scam for TV/Film Extras

[TGTheodore]

Went onto Yahoo Hot Jobs today and there was a big ad for casting extras as background, no experience necessary.

In extremely big print it said "GET CASTED AS NURSES". And "TO GET CASTED CALL 1-800-XXX-XXXX". The ad goes on to say how much experience they have in casting.

If they had ANY experience at all they'd know there's no such word as CASTED (not in this sense, anyway).

The correct tense is simply CAST. "GET CAST AS A NURSE" And "TO GET CAST, CALL ..."

Freaking morons. I actually called the number, stayed on hold and went through one of their operators who asked me if I was actually applying for the job.

I said no and told him about the ad. I've been a director for 34 years, and the word is CAST. He got quite befuddled for a bit, and then asked me AGAIN if I was applying for an acting job.

I just said they should correct their ad. And kind of embarrassed, the guy said he'd tell his supervisor.

Right.

Morons.

--Ted

 

[RJDiogenes]

It's no surprise. Standards are piss poor everywhere these days. I see spelling and grammatical errors all over the place: Websites, professional magazines, ads, the scrolling bars on news channels, official memos at work. It's pretty pathetic.

 

[JAG]

There will always be mistakes. I know not to use that company.

 

[cultcross]

I saw an ad in a bank window yesterday, something to do with a 'cashback' scheme, had a big picture of a £20 note on it, and written across it was:
SECIMEN

 

[Pingfah]

^ On the BBC morning news business segment yesterday Simon Jack was introducing a story about rising living costs and written on the screen behind him in big letters was "PERSCRIPTIONS".

 

[WillsBabe]

I feel your pain. A couple of months back there was an article on BBC news. It was about a British doctor working in Africa, who took directions from a surgeon back in the UK over a mobile phone on how to save a child's life using particular medical procedures. You could imagine which organisation the doctor was working for, but in case you couldn't, the caption helpfully read: "Medecine sans Frontihers". Idiots.

 

[Bloodwhiner]

Saw an ad yesterday for "Chawahwahs"

 

[Locutus of Bored]

The street sign for my street has been misspelled as long as I've lived here, and the city refuses to fix it. It's not a big deal, because it's obvious what the actual street name is and it doesn't change the word into anything weird or funny, but it's just kind of odd having the wrong spelling on a street sign.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Reminds me of those Babylon 5 episodes where you'd see signs in a corridor on the station that said things like "SECUR AREA".

 

[Crewman47]

Saw an ad yesterday for "Chawahwahs"

Spelling it the way it sounds isn't a bad thing, completly, if you know what it says then that's all that counts. To be honest the names of those yappy little dogs are hard to say let alone spell.

(You'll notice that I couldn't be bothered to look up the correct spelling)

 

[TGTheodore]

Actually, it does matter. I don't want to do business with companies that are too lazy (or too stupid) to spell correctly. It says a LOT about the quality of service or the product you'll probably get from these people.

These stories are amazing ... and yet, unfortunately, they're not these days.

P.S. Chihuahua.

And they ARE annoying.

Keep the stories coming. Their phun too reed.

--Ted

 

[John Picard]

Went onto Yahoo Hot Jobs today and there was a big ad for casting extras as background, no experience necessary.

In extremely big print it said "GET CASTED AS NURSES". And "TO GET CASTED CALL 1-800-XXX-XXXX". The ad goes on to say how much experience they have in casting.

If they had ANY experience at all they'd know there's no such word as CASTED (not in this sense, anyway).

The correct tense is simply CAST. "GET CAST AS A NURSE" And "TO GET CAST, CALL ..."

Freaking morons. I actually called the number, stayed on hold and went through one of their operators who asked me if I was actually applying for the job.

I said no and told him about the ad. I've been a director for 34 years, and the word is CAST. He got quite befuddled for a bit, and then asked me AGAIN if I was applying for an acting job.

I just said they should correct their ad. And kind of embarrassed, the guy said he'd tell his supervisor.

Right.

Morons.

--Ted

Several years ago, I saw the following written on a sign at Home Depot: "Price Very". I pointed it out to a cashier who gave me a quizzical look. I followed up with, "Well, prices are very -- what? Very high? very ridiculous? It's the wrong word." The employee shrugged it off and said it was no big deal.

 

[Amaris]

Chihuahua. Same phonetic sound.

Yeah, it's pretty bad. I'm starting to wonder if Scripps-Howard is going to start having words like "CU L8R" in their regional handbooks, or whether they'll drop the larger words because they're too hard.

Now, I don't normally get on someone's case for spelling, particularly here. This is a very relaxed board and it doesn't really bother me regarding punctuation and spelling as long as it's not egregious. However, it should be made plain that our quality of education is declining rapidly, particularly in the area of grammar and punctuation. I speak at what I consider a normal level, yet time and time again I hear people asking me to speak in "plain English" or "Why do you have to use fancy words?"

Fancy? Fascinating is a fancy word? Circumspect is a fancy word? Since when?

Sorry, it's just that I've heard this a lot lately around here.

J.

 

[ITL]

Chihuahua. Same phonetic sound.

Yeah, it's pretty bad. I'm starting to wonder if Scripps-Howard is going to start having words like "CU L8R" in their regional handbooks, or whether they'll drop the larger words because they're too hard.

Now, I don't normally get on someone's case for spelling, particularly here. This is a very relaxed board and it doesn't really bother me regarding punctuation and spelling as long as it's not egregious. However, it should be made plain that our quality of education is declining rapidly, particularly in the area of grammar and punctuation. I speak at what I consider a normal level, yet time and time again I hear people asking me to speak in "plain English" or "Why do you have to use fancy words?"

Fancy? Fascinating is a fancy word? Circumspect is a fancy word? Since when?

Sorry, it's just that I've heard this a lot lately around here.

J.

Fascinating is a perfectly cromulent word...

 

[John Picard]

Chihuahua. Same phonetic sound.

Yeah, it's pretty bad. I'm starting to wonder if Scripps-Howard is going to start having words like "CU L8R" in their regional handbooks, or whether they'll drop the larger words because they're too hard.

Now, I don't normally get on someone's case for spelling, particularly here. This is a very relaxed board and it doesn't really bother me regarding punctuation and spelling as long as it's not egregious. However, it should be made plain that our quality of education is declining rapidly, particularly in the area of grammar and punctuation. I speak at what I consider a normal level, yet time and time again I hear people asking me to speak in "plain English" or "Why do you have to use fancy words?"

Fancy? Fascinating is a fancy word? Circumspect is a fancy word? Since when?

Sorry, it's just that I've heard this a lot lately around here.

J.

Our quality of education is declining yet you aren't bothered by misspelling or bad grammar on this board? I have a friend, over the age of 50, whose written prose (e-mail) will put almost any "youngster" to shame. The interesting part of that story is that all he has is a high school education.

Think about it.

 

[JustKate]

One of these days, I'm going to start a little business, proofreading menus for restaurants. Maybe this is God's purpose for my life? It surely is needed.

Anyway, if I ever do, you can be sure that I will make sure that the menu says coleslaw, not cold slaw.

Cold slaw. Yeah. I kid you not.

But the very first thing I will do is go to a particular restaurant in the little town I live in, and tell them that their expensive, professionally painted sign shouldn't read "Home Cooking at It's Best." The cooking actually isn't that great, but it's a lot better than the spelling, that's for damn sure.

 

[Amaris]

Fascinating is a perfectly cromulent word...

Exactly!

Our quality of education is declining yet you aren't bothered by misspelling or bad grammar on this board? I have a friend, over the age of 50, whose written prose (e-mail) will put almost any "youngster" to shame. The interesting part of that story is that all he has is a high school education.

Think about it.

No, it doesn't bother me. I also take into account that there are people from many different countries here, whose primary language is not English. I pick my battles.

J.

 

[cultcross]

But the very first thing I will do is go to a particular restaurant in the little town I live in, and tell them that their expensive, professionally painted sign shouldn't read "Home Cooking at It's Best." The cooking actually isn't that great, but it's a lot better than the spelling, that's for damn sure.

Superfluous apostrophes seem to be a staple of the food industry, they seem to make that particular error a lot (which is, to tick off another pet peeve, not one word).

 

[auntiehill]

No, it doesn't bother me. I also take into account that there are people from many different countries here, whose primary language is not English. I pick my battles.

J.

Well, I grade ESL exams for a living, and I also occasionally still work on high school exit exams. And, sadly enough, I see the same types of errors on both.

One year, we did a field test, and gave the ESL standard exam to a group of English-speaking college students to compare the scores. There wasn't much of a difference.

 

[JustKate]

^ ^ Me too! Me too!

You want to make something plural, you either add an "s" or an "es." How hard is that? Not very, that's how hard.