The LNER Encyclopedia

Noticed at Ware yesterday, a stunning error which got past Greater Anglia's proof readers.

Are standards of literacy really going down the pan quickly?

To be fair, I had to read through ti three times to find it! Still, it is a typo that a splel chuncker would have easily found.

Actually it's Abellio Greater Anglia, and it's all Dutch to them and hence us after all, someone else said it is East Angular...

At the risk of being classed as a dumbo by the rest of the forum i still can't see wots wrong with it Mr.Bunt(ingford) unless it a wind up??.

Mickey

The third Feburarary

Yeah i see it now thanks Richard i was originally looking at February cos some people leave out the R but i never noticed the 'extra' 3rd R in the 3rd February down well spotted Mr.Bunt (as usual).

Mickey

richard wrote:The third Feburarary

Are you testing us, Richard?

Actually it says Februray, not Feburarary.

I'd like to think I'm as keen on standards as the next man, but I also understand the modern world of work and as typos go, it's hardly earth shattering. It's a notice of a transient nature, not a lasting work of historical record, and it still makes itself understood.

I know Kestrel, I was exaggerating.

I do find the standard of English in railway announcements appalling, but then I'm and old codger irritated by "Yoofspeak" (every 5th word is 'like', then there's a lot of 'kinda' and so on) and "should of" and 'incidences' and 'stadiums' (which 'The Media Show' on BBC R4 has used - so why isn't it 'The Mediums show'?). And so on...
However, I'm not sure whether my irritation with Virgin's use of the phrase "Point's Failure' in their "Journey Check" . Perhaps there is only one point involved and so it is quite correct. Or alternatively do they not know a that plural requires an 's' alone?
When talking of delay compensations, all references on the subject refer to the "Passenger's Charter". Am I him? If not, who is he or she? What about the other few million?

Best mistake I've seen on a notice was when travelling from Edinburgh to York. It said that due to engineering work all trains between Newcastle and York would run via Stockport.

Sawdust.

Pennine MC wrote:I'd like to think I'm as keen on standards as the next man, but I also understand the modern world of work and as typos go, it's hardly earth shattering. It's a notice of a transient nature, not a lasting work of historical record, and it still makes itself understood.

The saddest thing about this (and I pointed it out when I posted a photo of London Overground’s “Offenders will be presecuted” notice last year) is that too many employers these days - including TOCs - insist that prospective employees should attend “Assessment Centres” where they are subjected to literacy and numeracy tests which they must pass before their application can be taken forward.

If these literacy tests can allow the acceptance of people who can’t spell prosecuted or February – and clearly they do - what value can they have?

Mr Bunt wrote:
If these literacy tests can allow the acceptance of people who can’t spell prosecuted or February – and clearly they do - what value can they have?

I must admit that this is not new. When I worked at RHQ Padd 40 years ago my boss was a fallen highflyer (due to believing that the 1963 Paddington resignalling would not affect drivers' route knowledge requirements...) and, instead of using a 'dictaphone' he would present me with a draft letter with poor punctuation and grammar. There was then a routine; if I gave it to the typing pool unaltered, I would incur their derision. If, however, I corrected it, when the typed letter was returned I would place it in his in-tray and he would, after a pause, pass it back out to me for re-typing with all the corrections altered back. Aggghhhhh

Mr Bunt wrote:
If these literacy tests can allow the acceptance of people who can’t spell prosecuted or February – and clearly they do - what value can they have?

I don't think it's a simple as that though, I'm sure the bloke who did that notice in your OP doesn't genuinely think there are three Rs in February.

There's a difference between knowing how to do (or spell) something, and actually doing it - hence the expression 'typo' for an unintended slip of the keys. As I said, it's often down to modern ways of working - what's seen on the screen is often what one *expects* to see, not always what's actually there.