Since I’m an avid reader – otherwise known as a bookworm – and have become a writer of sorts, I’ve noticed I’ve developed a pet peeve.  Maybe it’s being nitpicky, after all it’s just a minor annoyance. However, if you’re writing advertising copy especially for the web, you really should make sure you know how to spell and know the difference between any homonyms (words that sound the same but are spelled differently) you might use.

Now, I have no problem when chatting with someone online and they misspell a word, I just sort out what they mean and move on.  If I’m reading an article or a book and notice a misspelling, I wonder how well things were proofread. What really annoys me is reading a web advertisement and seeing “without further adieu.”  Uhh what? without further goodbye?  If you’re going to use a phrase, make sure you’re using it correctly. It’s “without further ado.”  And for those who speak French, I’m well aware that adieu isn’t pronounced like ado so it’s not technically a homonym and it doesn’t technically mean goodbye, it was just easier to say it that way.

Yea, ok, so that’s a minor pet peeve, really just a small annoyance, more to keep my mind off the stresses of the weekly grind.

I’m still trying to figure out the article that was in the paper a few weeks ago, about how Oklahoma has a lower unemployment rate than the national average, and the county I live in is even lower still.  Yea, that’s true I guess.  Except I was speaking to someone this week, and she said that the local temp agency said the available jobs dropped 40% in the last few months.  Except someone at church said that one of the local companies is laying off a bunch of people (I think they said 16k).  Except my husband’s employer cut everyone back to a 4 day work week.  Yea, the city I live in is still doing well, but the rest of the world has been knocking very loudly on the door.  We’re not as cut off from things as the city elders would like you to think.  Instead, they’d rather you focus on widening Randolph Ave, cutting away at people’s properties.  Or mandatory inspections for rentals and rent-to-own houses, making sure they meet a minimum code. The former I think is ridiculous, the latter I agree with in theory, though the area landlords association is against it.

Later this week, I’ll do more money saving tips.  I think we all could use some at this point.  I know I’ve been wishing I lived where my parents do, or at least in my own house where I could start a garden.  I think we all need a ‘victory garden’ this year.