The Current Writers vs Elementary School English

[Diversity Pumpkin]

I couldn't find any images for this, sorry.

You Kent Always Say What You Want
The word "acquaintances" is mispelled on his "wall of casual acquaintances who came to stay with us for a while".

Gone Maggie Gone
One of the act break riddles says, "can you try and figure this out?" rather than "can you try to figure this out?"

At Long Last Leave
Lol, you know what one I'm talking about.

Okay, so isn't this enough proof that the writers aren't qualified? So many times when there are written words placed on the screen, there are glaring spelling and grammar mistakes which they'd have months to notice. I don't even watch the current show and these have stood out to me on my first viewings.

I'm no grammar nazi, but come on, this is a multi-billion dollar television show with paid writers, editors, etc, with a year-long production process. How do they let this shit slide? Sure, people can say that the current hate towards the show's writing are just subjective opinions, but they can't argue against spelling and grammar (although they will anyway).

I can't picture the current show making a joke like, "No, money down!". I want to read the actual scripts from this era, just to see how awkward they sound, especially after seeing this little transcript from a recent episode:

Bart: That’s even sadder than being friends with Milhouse.
Milhouse: You know something, Bart, I’m getting tired of things like that.
Bart: Tired of what? I dump on you and you take it, that’s how friendship works.
Milhouse: Not anymore. Friendship over.

Haha, yech! Why are they hiring illiterates?! Personally... I don't believe they are. I don't want to believe that nobody is noticing all of these mistakes. I've decided to conclude that this is further proof that they don't care about the show, and the only reason it takes so long to produce is because of the animation process. The scripts are shat out in a couple of days, if that. Riiiight?

[Dark Homer]

whoa 3 typos time to shut down the show

blame the animators if anything

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

There are a variety of factors; I wouldn't count the typos as one of them but I would count the plots, the animation and the jokes/characterizations in general. Typos and grammatical errors are things you can find anywhere, it's like a human error that can't be corrected.

[Diversity Pumpkin]

whoa 3 typos time to shut down the show

Didn't they mispell Kristen Schaal's name, one of their guest stars, as well? I didn't intend to list them all, I don't even watch the show anymore. My point is that this is a visual medium, there are rarely words on the screen, so having these easy to spot "typos" is kind of saddening from what was once such an intelligent show.

There are a variety of factors; I wouldn't count the typos as one of them but I would count the plots, the animation and the jokes/characterizations in general. Typos and grammatical errors are things you can find anywhere, it's like a human error that can't be corrected.

My point is that they can be corrected. I'm fine with people who make typos (I've probably made a few in this thread alone). It's just that if they actually cared about their product, they would have found and corrected them through the editing process. It just seems like glaring proof that they no longer give a shit.

[Diversity Pumpkin]

Lol, look! This was just on TV, and I (sadly) noticed it.



Jar Jar Binks doesn't have a hyphen in his name. Couldn't they have googled that to check or something? These are everywhere, and I'm sure I could find a bunch more.

EDIT: Damn, I should've ended on the Kristen Schaal example, rather than Jar Jar Binks.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

I hope someone got fired for that blunder!

[Diversity Pumpkin]

Goddammit... =(

[Bartesque]

Are They Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?

[biffwestwood]

Well, you might as well blame "The Boy who Knew too Much" because Bart spells Lincoln as L-I-N-C-O-N. But my example I am pointing out of characters misspelling words is a common staple of old cartoons.

[qwertyuio]

[MagicalManFromHappyLand]

Well, you might as well blame "The Boy who Knew too Much" because Bart spells Lincoln as L-I-N-C-O-N. But my example I am pointing out of characters misspelling words is a common staple of old cartoons.

You realise that's the joke right? Like when Homer says 'G-I-L-T-Y' in Krusty Gets Busted.

[Bartesque]

Or Bart celebrating by saying "S-U-C-C-E-E-S, that's the way you spell success"

[Friz]

BURNS' MANSON

[The Governor]

Two words:

IT'S A CARTOON!!!!!!

[Homer I Am]

Since this thread's strayed so off-topic and was pointless from the start:

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

You realise that's the joke right? Like when Homer says 'G-I-L-T-Y' in Krusty Gets Busted.

It's actually G-I-L-L-T-Y.

[lolcats]

We're complaining about typos now?

Now it just seems we're looking for something to complain about...

[The Governor]

Oh, god...lolcats is being the voice of reason.

I'm scared.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

I think someone with more common sense killed lolcats and took his profile.

[Matlock]

Diverrisity Pupkin yoi nead to chilll owt,mahnn.

[leprechaun_dan]

Like on SpongeBob, they spelled "villain" incorrectly in the phrase: 'Every Villain is Lemons' but instead it read 'Every Villian is Lemons'

But it's really no biggie

[zach]

Like on SpongeBob, they spelled "villains" incorrectly in the phrase: 'Every Villain is Lemons' but instead it read 'Every Villian is Lemons'

But it's really no biggie

ha, never even noticed that it was spelled incorrectly. cool.

[Dark Homer]

My point is that this is a visual medium, there are rarely words on the screen, so having these easy to spot "typos" is kind of saddening from what was once such an intelligent show.

ok, so some animator didn't bother double-checking the spelling of a word because s/he was strapped for time, and there wasn't money for a retake because they keep slashing budgets... what does this have to do with the intelligence of the show as a whole? it's not like there were never any typos in the "intelligent" era

[Diversity Pumpkin]

How are you defending this? I understand it's kind of anal to obsess over spelling mistakes, but it's not like it came down to an animator being "rushed for time". Lol, come on, you have to know that - you're into animation, right? There's layout designers, storyboard artists, cleanup artists - so many stages of animation, not to mention the directors and producers who watch over everything.

Maybe it isn't the writers' fault (although they are the ones who write the things that appear on screen - whether the animators are copying it down wrong, I don't know) but the fact that nobody's catching this shit throughout the year-long production process is evidence that they don't care anymore. This is supposd to be a professional show, with millions of dollars in their budget. We, the people on this board, condemn the writing in the scripts, but if there are continuous, numerous errors on screen it's okay? It's not like text is hard to fix animation wise - that's how they've been making most of their relevant jokes (Bart's chalkboard gags, pasted in signs, etc).

I guess I won't be winning this one so I won't argue this any longer. I stand by it though - especially the one where they spelled their guest star's name wrong. :/

[Friz]

The scripts are shat out in a couple of days, if that. Riiiight?

"Right" only has one "i".

[lolcats]

Dear Al Jean,

I noticed in your latest episode that Homer said, ''You die now,'' instead of ''You will go ahead and die now.''

For that, I believe you should cancel the show and kill yourself, I don't care how you do it, JUST DO IT.
You need to be LOCKED UP! I bet you're reading this thinking that this is just an annoying nitpicky viewer, but it's not! I've seen every single Simpsons episode, including Nazis on Tap, which was pretty good and cool!

Seriously, that was a fatal mistake that will get you slaughtered! You can't write back because by now, your infected with anthrax, so you don't even have to kill yourself! Don't think about calling the police because of the fact I booby-trapped everything around you.

I'm sorry! Bye!

Love,

Lolcats from NHC

[Financial Panther]

Commas and periods go inside quotes, it should be "you're," not "your," and "anthrax" shouldn't be capitalized.

Oh yeah; this is fun.

[lolcats]

I usually fix those mistakes, but since I'm just posting on here, there's no real point...

[Dark Homer]

How are you defending this? I understand it's kind of anal to obsess over spelling mistakes, but it's not like it came down to an animator being "rushed for time". Lol, come on, you have to know that - you're into animation, right? There's layout designers, storyboard artists, cleanup artists - so many stages of animation, not to mention the directors and producers who watch over everything.

Maybe it isn't the writers' fault (although they are the ones who write the things that appear on screen - whether the animators are copying it down wrong, I don't know) but the fact that nobody's catching this shit throughout the year-long production process is evidence that they don't care anymore. This is supposd to be a professional show, with millions of dollars in their budget. We, the people on this board, condemn the writing in the scripts, but if there are continuous, numerous errors on screen it's okay? It's not like text is hard to fix animation wise - that's how they've been making most of their relevant jokes (Bart's chalkboard gags, pasted in signs, etc).

I guess I won't be winning this one so I won't argue this any longer. I stand by it though - especially the one where they spelled their guest star's name wrong. :/

Well, ok, yeah it sucks that nobody cares anymore. And I think spelling errors are a valid complaint. My beef was mainly that you're overstating the issue ("This show used to be INTELLIGENT, the writers are failing at elementary school english, why are they hiring illiterates now?"). The damning examples you provided are actually quite minor: 1. Wouldn't it actually be in character for Homer to misspell "acquaintances?" 2. "Can you try and figure this out?" parses and makes grammatical sense; "to" would've been a better word, sure, but you're complaining about word preferences which kinda feels like you're nitpicking just to nitpick 3. I didn't see At Long Last Leave so I actually don't know what moment you're talking about . I don't think those examples build a strong case for the writers being unqualified, assuming that's still your thesis (and again, it's most likely the fault of the animators). I don't know if you've seen The Larry Sanders Show, but you can see the boom mike in the frame quite frequently. They didn't bother reshooting those scenes because they knew it was a trivial detail. Nobody says, "wow, look at all those sloppy errors, boy all those guys must've been really dumb!"

And, yeah, I'm sympathetic to the animators because I read stuff about how they have little job security and the budgets keep get slashed. They have to do more with less time and less people. It's likely that they do notice errors but can't do anything about it because there isn't money for retakes (they talk about this a lot in commentaries, I think David Silverman or somebody actually paid for a retake out of his own pocket once?). The millions of dollars you keep mentioning is going to the actors, the huge writing staff, the orchestra, and the producers, at least one of whom literally hasn't worked on the show since the Clinton Administration; the animation department is essentially the one place where they can cut costs.

I think your argument would've been stronger had you just focused on awkward forced dialogue, because wow that Bart/Milhouse scene is horrendous. I'm with you on that one.

[comeau]

Seriously, I'm so worried about grammar in a cartoon show.