I’ve got a pedant hanging round my neck

Thanks to all those friends who, instead of posting on this blog, EMAILED us pointing out our deliberate mistakes. You spotted ‘definately’, chaps, but failed to pick up ‘embarassment’. We’re leaving them in. By the way, why not post your thoughts here rather than emailing, which is so last millennium (where’s the dictionary, Pup?).

We have a (very obviously) deliberate mistake on our actual website. It’s there for several reasons – playfulness, wit, marketing. Sometimes, the unsolicited job applicants smugly point it out. Usually, they aren't native English. It’s not enough to know the English language; the cultural nuances need to be understood if you want to work with words for a living ...

Samantha: The Dark Side of Adolescence

Because we’re based in Shoreditch, which usually boasts a much better class of graffiti, Brand Pup has been growling for weeks about MySpace users/losers (see his last post). “Gruesome craterfaced hormonal teenage Emos, borderline retarded ... “

I had to give him a tiny smack for polluting our blog with this topic. However, poor literacy is definately a national embarassment. We gasp at some of the unsolicited job applications and CVs which arrive at the office. A great number of 25-year-olds write like 13-year-olds, and they’re applying for jobs where good writing skills are essential.

Whilst a teenager, though, it’s still practically obligatory to be perverse and offensive. Recently I’ve been lucky enough to add to my art collection a new work which I love for its perversity. ‘Twisted Teenager’ by Philip Dolby and Patsy Parker, recalls the dark side of adolescence ...