By Katie Earley, Copywriter

Right before I left for vacation last week, I posted about a guy going on a grammar-correcting trip around the country. While I was heading to the beach and back, I happened upon some errors of my own:

• Do “Adult Novely Stores” offer more adult novels than your average adult novelty store?
• Along Georgia highways there are signs discouraging drunk driving which say, with the quotation marks, “Don’t Do It”. Someone should let them know that in this instance the quotation marks denote sarcasm.
• Sadly, I saw a billboard for my beloved IKEA that said “IKEA home Furnishings”. Really?! No big H for “home”?

On a happier note, I have a strong affection for the design of the menu at Truffles Grill, one of our favorite dining spots from the trip. So simple and modern, and I love the font.

By Katie Earley, Copywriter

Susan Gosselin, our PR Director and fellow company blogger, shared an NPR story with me yesterday about two men who traveled our country’s perimeter on A Great Typo Hunt. (I can’t imagine why she thought I would love this idea. ) You might remember that I had some grammatical suggestions for the Lincoln Memorial a few months ago. I still have not heard about those getting fixed, but whatever.

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by Susan Gosselin,

Vest Director of PR, and certified stealth geek and vidiot

Everybody has those things that just make them happy.  Language is one of those things for me.  I love to write.  More important, I love the power and rhythm of words.  So I was delighted to discover that the Oxford English Dictionary folks have been keeping an 100 year old archive of words that have been submitted for admission to the dictionary, but rejected each year.  In an age where proper English is supposedly on the decline, it’s fun to see the creativity that went into these words.   Some of them are really terrific.  My vote is for “nonversation,”  when you’re talking to someone who is making noise but not providing you with interesting content.  How many of THOSE have you had lately?

If you could submit a word for the dictionary, what would it be?  Mine would be Awesomitude.  My 10 year old son used it the other day to describe his day. Priceless.  Keep reading to see the list of rejects from this year..

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By Katie Earley, Copywriter

Some spaces don’t require you to write something clever. They barely require you to write anything at all. Finding clever copy in a space that doesn’t necessitate much of anything is always a fun for surprise for me.

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By Katie Earley, Copywriter

A lot of what I share here is inspired by other blogs. Here are some of my faves that focus on writing and editing.

Grammar Girl – My favorite super heroine. I always double check with her to make sure I’m right before I unleash my English-nerd fury.

Ask a Copywriter – Solving life’s problems with advertising.

After Deadline – Few things make me feel better about my own shortcomings than knowing NY Times journalists still mess up on subject-verb agreement and a bunch of other things. (Although I was disappointed by this week’s suggestion to avoid the word “brouhaha”. If we need more of any word in today’s journalism, it’s probably “brouhaha”.)

Writing Roads – Good advice on writing and/or life.

The Subversive Copy Editor – My most recent discovery. Love it!

Modern Copywriter – A collection of inspiring portfolio pieces.

Do you have any favorite writing blogs? I’d love to hear about them.

image: Foxtongue

By Katie Earley, Copywriter

It seems like the alcohol-industry consistently has some of my favorite ads. Here are some whiskey ones I found recently.

Great headlines on these Jameson print ads via Ask a Copywriter.

Lovely extended branding video for Johnnie Walker via American Copywriter.

By Katie Earley, Copywriter

There are two things you need to know about me:

1. Somewhere in my education — around my 1,000th page of typed, 12 point, double-spaced, Times New Roman research paper/essay/short story/personal narrative — I decided that Times New Roman was my Visual Enemy #1.

2. I’m a bit of a slacker on news-reading. I’ve just always found fiction more entertaining, and often less disturbing. But don’t worry. I watch lots of commercials and read lots about writing and Twitter so I know what I need to know.

All of which leads to this morning, when I’m scrolling through the News section of my Google Reader. I subscribe to the local Courier-Journal, the New York Times and CNN. (Okay, and People too but that doesn’t really apply to the story. Although I would like to say that Betty White was fabulous on SNL.)

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