IHOP Sends Out Typo-Ridden Promo Email
By: Marissa Brassfield
Published: November 6, 2011

Times must be hard at IHOP: the company recently sent out a holiday promo email for its Holiday Hotcakes that could not possibly have been written or edited by a professional. A screencap of the email appears below; you'll see copy editor pet peeves like "your" instead of "you're," random capitalized words, and a possessive instead of a plural.
I know today's economy is unkind, but promotional emails like this one do little to enhance a restaurant's image.

Comments:
Mikki
November 6, 2011

The only typo I see in this entire thing is the apostrophe in Combos.... Maybe i missed it but, all the "your"s I noticed were meant to be the possessive form which is spelt "your" not "you're" (which is the contraction for you are)... And as for all the "random" capitalizations, none of them seem random at all, they are all names of flavors, dishes, menus (Simple & Fit), or special "deals" (Combos) ... Many restaurants capitalize those things.
Marissa Brassfield

There are a few. (Disclosure: I'm a copy editor by trade, so I love grammar and am trained to hone in on minutiae.)
"if your really hungry" should be "if you're really hungry," since as you rightly note, it is a contraction for "you are." Same with "we know your just gonna love them."
There are many, many more here, but a small sampling:
- "calories" shouldn't be capitalized
- "make" shouldn't be capitalized
- "tis" should have an apostrophe before the T because it is a contraction of "it is"
- The final sentence is a fragment and does not end with any punctuation.
Debbie Ostrander

Really? Is this a reflection of the current spoken word? How sad...I just got a call, a "sales call" and the person on the phone was NOT understandable. Wouldn't you think that enunciation, and famalairity with the American language would be a requirement?
Sheri Wetherell

That's outsourcing for you! :)
dolores

It's "home in on" not "hone in on". Minutia must have slipped by.
Marissa Brassfield

Well played, but per The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. (Houghton Mifflin, 2006):
hone in 1. To move or advance toward a target or goal: The missile honed in on the military installation. 2. To direct one's attention; focus. The lawyer honed in on the gist of the plaintiff's testimony.. . . . [Hone in, alteration of home in.]
Language is always evolving.
Veronika Walker

How terribly infuriating. I'm a copy editor by trade as well...I've come close to sticky-note plastering ad copy like this. Seriously, IHOP...editors don't cost THAT much....