Grammar 101 with Michael Kwan

Typos can be awfully unfortunate but sometimes funny things. In a more formal setting, as would be the case with corporate communications or an academic essay, typos really are inexcusable. Thankfully, in the more casual context of blogging and social media, it’s really not that big of a deal if you happen to mistype a word every now and then.

Just don’t expect anyone to let you get away with it.

As I was making my way through my RSS reader last week, I came across a post on Slashfilm that I would have normally scrolled on by without taking a second look… until I saw a typo that quite literally had me laughing out loud. Well, more of a quiet chuckle. The typo gave the sentence an entirely different meaning.

“This being a romantic drama, of course there’s a tragic twist: he’s basically given up on life following a terrible accent [sic] that’s left him a quadriplegic, and she’s his caretaker.”

That’s part of the brief plot summary for an upcoming movie called Me Before You, starring Emilia “Mother of Dragons” Clarke of Game of Thrones fame. She plays the female caretaker for a man who has lost the ability to move or control most of his body. He’s bound to a chair and she’s there to feed him, clothe him and otherwise keep him company.

I just thought it was funny how it was his “terrible accent” that led to his condition. We poke fun at pompous and pretentious English accents here in North America all the time, but who would have known that it could literally cripple you for life? Of course, it was really a terrible accident that left him a quadriplegic… but that’s just not as interesting or unique, now is it? I mean, his accent isn’t that bad, is it?

Unsurprisingly, the Internet being what it is, some people picked up on the mistake and had their fun in the comments section of the blog post. It was an honest mistake and it won’t deter from continuing to follow Slashfilm for my entertainment news and gossip. A chipped coffee cup this is not, at least for me.

Have you spotted any funny typos recently?