Department of corrections

The Capitol Curmudgeon (www.capitolcurmudgeon.com) scours official state documents and then posts the most bonehead typos and grammatical gaffes for public ridicule. For example, when the brain trust over at the California Postsecondary Education Commission spelled the boss’s name “Schwarzeneggar,” the Curmudgeon caught it. In fact, lots of state employees can’t seem to spell Schwarzenegger.

The California Geographic Information System mentions the delicious “Mohave Dessert” in one document and the Curmudgeon asks, “Didn’t we learn this in the fourth grade?” The State Senate, we learn, doesn’t know the difference between the Mexican border and a Mexican Boarder. And from the Department of Aging, there’s a humorous anecdote about a program in which seniors get together to share “humorous antidotes.” One supposes those are for hilarious rattlesnake bites.

Some corrections are pretty nitpicky. Others are classic: “On one site the word ‘pubic’ was used instead of ‘public.’ It’s seventh-grade humor, but it is embarrassing—or it would be to most people. It’s been on the site for five years. Does anyone care? Apparently not,” the site’s author gripes in pitch-perfect Curmudgeon style.

Upfront just hopes the Curmudgeon doesn’t read SN&R that closely.