I´ve just read Xpertlovers thread about the inconsistent lyrics in the booklet to the Musicology CD , and I´ve been wondering about the same thing...how come that the spelling on most of the NPG releases is so bad ?? Just check out Xpertlover´s thread about that booklet, for instance "should of " instead of " should have", "..we want to end this with THREE words: WE TIRED O´Y´ALL .." (??!??) ..Eh ?
I met a linguist in Brighton/UK last year who predicted that "should of " instead of "should have " will be the latest fashion in the next years to come. It will be so popular that it will be perfectly OK to write "of " instead of "´ve".

Even Jon Bream(StarTrib. journalist and author of an early biography) noticed this.
Or the cover of that infamous 1999-The New Master EP ( just check out the back of that cover and see how they wrote judgment day...jugdement day....it´s either judgement day OR judgment day, depending on where you live, but JUGDEMENT ?
Or the overuse of the "eye" instead of "I" and it goes on and on...

Not to sound like a know-it-all but this is really strange because Prince´s lyrics and his knowledge of grammar and spelling were always superb, his handwriting is also quite special so I wonder what´s the reason behind all this.I guess it all started with Steve Parke but then again I don´t want to put the blame on him only. It´s just strange that someone who used slang only occasionally in the past is now censoring some old lyrics on the one hand and on the other he´s getting a bit sloppy when it comes to booklets, cover artwork and grammar whereas in the past his LP covers were always classy and stylish. I´m not hating, I really like Musicology and I also liked TRC but it´s strange when someone gradually starts changing his language and spelling and tries to adopt the latest slang as he gets wiser instead of the other way around.Wasn´t it Prince who argued against Ebonics during that Spike Lee interview for the Interview magazine ?

Don't blame me - I've offered to proofread for 'em.

Anxiety said:

Guess that would turn out quite similar to what it did for me when working in marketing for my last CEO... He's *very* picky when it comes to spelling, grammar and language in general. Now I'm a (computational) linguist and hinted at one term (he wrote) that definitely was not correct in standard German grammar.

He thought a while until he replied - "ah well... mmm... but it sounds better". So he defines standard grammar now.

But this inconsistency in the booklet is even more annoying.

Wolf

Oh, I worked for someone once who insisted that "irregardless" was proper usage. I kept on going around and around with him, and finally he said "I sign your checks - 'irregardless' is a word."

Well, couldn't really argue with that.

i hear you. and, the warning at the NPGMC message boards about being nice is wrong too. i think it's something about 'hatred AND anger IS'. .. instead of hatred and anger ARE, which would be better for plurals. i started a thread 'bout that but no one paid me any mind at all

XxAxX said:

Well, the grammatical issues w/ that statement are the least of their problems.

Yeah, there were a bunch of misspellings up at the site...I started a thread way back in April or so of 2003, but hey guess what? Nobody cared.

I'm with you KoolEaze...for someone who is such a professional, shit like this makes him look like a rank amateur. It's just sloppy, lazy and quite frankly....stupid. Sorry, but if you don't know the difference between "should have" and "should of," then y'ain't a bright one.

Anxiety offered, I offered, PLENTY of people would be MORE than happy...and shit, they can PURPOSEFULLY misspell anything the want...but jugdement? saxaphone? should of? That kinda shit is obviously not intended, so why not have one intelligent person with an eye for detail give the lyric book and album layout a quick once-over before sending it to press?

I think the "three words" thing is supposedly slang? I guess it's considered slang to say for example, I want to end this post with three words:

PROOFREADERS DON'T COST MUCH MONEY.

Oh all right, NOW I understand....

"Design by Sam Jennings"

Well no fucking wonder!! Hey Sam, you stupid short shrimp of a man, use fucking spell check or someone with a brain next time, okay? What has it been, since Emancipation that a Prince release came out without some obvious spelling/grammar mistakes? (And no I'm not talking about when they do it on purpose.) Hmmm....just about as long as Sammy's short little PeePee's been up in Prince's grill.

Oh, and the packaging sucks on this as far as I'm concerned. What exactly is supposed to keep the lyric booklet from falling out? What's supposed to keep the cardboard flap closed? One of the least user-friendly Prince CD packages ever...only coming second to NEWS. The lyric booklet has already fallen out about 3 times on me, once just now in the parking lot. Whee!!

At least this one doesn't look like something out of a Myst video game, so at least we have progress on SOME level. And this has little to do with design, but that picture of P w/ his acoustic (from the Tavis show) on the last page of the booklet is DIVOOOONE. I like the inclusion of that and the live shot (from the "press conference"?) - nice little keepsakes of this year's craziness.

this reminds me of the time Prince had his love4oneanother site going and send out the message-

"emit time"

it was during the whole 'time is a trick' phase, and he obviously intended it to mean "OMIT time"
But the fact that it almost means the opposite in a totally goofy way was just too funny.

EMIT TIME??!!

The ONA box set, or booklet, has some glaring typos too. If i had it in front of me I would list them. But damn, don't nobody look twice before printing up millions o copies?

theblueangel said:

I agree all the way. Sam needs to go, get a new graphic designer with a brain please.