We all know that English is a funny language. How else can you explain the words bough, through, and rough all being pronounced differently despite ending in –ough?
English is also tricky phonetically and especially when it comes to there, their, and they’re. All different words, all different meanings, all pronounced the same.
For the most part, Joe Average will know the difference and use the word which pertains to the conversation. Even kids tend to know the difference and may use the correct one. IDK, perhaps I’m giving them too much credit in this world of SMS shortcuts and acronyms.
(And just to show my age and how long I’ve been online, here’s one for you: “A/S/L?”*)
Then there’s this ad that I grabbed from an email. It was for an event that Monster Energy Drink was returning to after an absence of a couple of years.
Now let us all pop open a can of Monster, lift it to the heavens above and proudly proclaim in unison…
“THERE BACK!”
Say what?
I can’t place the blame for this most grievous error entirely on Monster because chances are they didn’t see the ad; it could have been thrown together by the event’s organizers who are mostly volunteers. Trust me. I know.
But come on, there’s no way this makes any sense so it should have been caught by anyone who may have seen it.
Then again, maybe [sic] theirs more to it.
*”A/S/L,” for you younger ones, was chatroom lingo for “Age, Sex, Location” back when chatrooms and IM programs like AIM, ICQ, and YIM were the big thing. Total icebreaker when someone new wandered into the room.