Typophile - Mistakes in job listings - funny or scary? - Comments

> Macintosh wasn’t

Don McCahill — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 11:36:27 -0700

> Macintosh wasn’t released by Apple until 1984, so technically that requirement was impossible.

Actually, I usually mention when I tell that story that the only people who would have qualified were the eight or so members of the Macintosh development team.

Quarque Expresse. “The

AGL — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 09:46:40 -0700

Quarque Expresse. “The last time I called it was printed ’Pagemaker with photoshop for low paced environment’. “Yes, we are accepting reusmés and hopefully in couple of weeks we decide”... On many occasions it is sign related but that is “Corel”.

I can’t tell you how many

Ricardo Cordoba — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:17:56 -0700

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen XPress spelled “Express” or “Xpress” in ads. My guess is that these ads are dictated to someone who doesn’t use the applications and hence does not know the proper spelling or capitalization... But even then, I would expect the ads to be proofread before being posted!

Point taken, Don, but these

EileenB — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:44:15 -0700

Point taken, Don, but these ads weren’t in a newspaper. They were online, on websites with no “classified ad taker” to be a creative speller. Sadly, it’s ignorant (or illiterate) employers.

Macintosh wasn’t released by Apple until 1984, so technically that requirement was impossible. But, had I not been 17 years old, I may have qualified for that job! My dad was a salesman and worked for Apple when I was a kid - in 1980, dad brought home an Apple II Plus for his study. I learned to write a little program that drew a happy face on the monitor. When I was 13, Dad got an Apple IIe, but I think I fell in love with Rick Springfield that year and the computer lost it’s appeal.

I applied for, and got, a

Don McCahill — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:28:09 -0700

I applied for, and got, a job in 1987 that required 5 years experience on a Macintosh computer. At that time only the original seven (I think) guys who invented the Mac would have qualified.

What they really wanted was more than 5 years experience on a computer, with some Mac experience. I qualified.

As for the first posting, don’t blame the advertisers. Newspapers paying $6 an hour for classified ad takers (no spelling skills required if you work for cheap) and no more proofreaders mean that errors like this are common.

I also cringe when people

pattyfab — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:16:19 -0700

I also cringe when people say “Adobe” but mean “PDF”.

I find that they usually say Acrobat instead of pdf. I got into an argument with an author who kept asking me for acrobat files. I sent her pdfs, for some reason she couldn’t open them (I downsaved them to like v4) and she’d email me again asking for the acrobat file.

That said, Quark has entered the vernacular as the name for that application. If you tell someone you work in XPress you will get a blank stare. Deal with it!

And now I need to stop playing around on the interwebs and get to work. It’s a series of tubes!

Most people are WRONG. WRONG

aluminum — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:01:19 -0700

Most people are WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG! ;o)

I also cringe when people say “Adobe” but mean “PDF”.

Same with “Internet” when they mean “My Web Browser”.

Most people I know refer to

pattyfab — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:26:21 -0700

Most people I know refer to Quark as Quark, not XPress.

Yay! Thanks!

sii — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:13:34 -0700

Yay! Thanks!

Fixed. :^)

Miss Tiffany — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:09:12 -0700

Fixed. :^)

Perhaps a moderator can do

sii — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:50:35 -0700

Perhaps a moderator can do their business.

Cheers, Si

James...

sii — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:50:03 -0700

James...

Sorry, with the edit

James Puckett — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:49:25 -0700

Sorry, with the edit function off I can’t fix it.

Who left their tag open?

aluminum — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:43:23 -0700

Who left their tag open? Tsk tsk.

I just went back and found

iffy — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:13:11 -0700

I just went back and found it and it was even funnier than I remembered. Nice space bar usage.

“•Experience with Adobe suite of products such as N design, also , Acrobat, Freehand; Quark, Express; Microsoft Office and related software”

Mistakes in job listings - funny or scary?

EileenB — Wed, 14 May 2008 20:58:26 -0700

I can’t think of a group that would appreciate this more, so I had to share.

(Blah Blah) Printing Inc. is seeking a Graphic Designer to design and build ads for newspapers. Must be proficient in EnDesign, Quark, PhotoShop, and Illustrator. Medical and Dental + 401K ...

It brought to mind this funny mistake I saw a few weeks ago:

(Blah Blah) Grill is now hiring for summer/fall season 2008. Bintliff’s is a fast paste restaurant supported by our resort ...

Anyone ever eaten fast paste? I suspect it may be brutal on the digestive system.

Just for laughs,
Eileen