In the April 10 issue of Travel Weekly, we quoted Peter Stanzel,
the president of TA Edge, saying that the biggest mistake Web site
creators make is to place text on those sites with misspelled
words.
It creates a poor impression, he noted, for Web surfers to find
that a site sponsor has made that kind of mistake. We at Insider
applaud Peter for making his point.
We figure it is similar to misspelling words in a letter of
application for a job or in a letter written to pitch your services
to a prospective customer.
We also believe that on the Web -- today's Wild West of
publishing -- there have been so many assaults on the language we
love that we figure several laws have been broken.
So, when gleefully editing this oh-so-useful article for Agent
Life, we looked up TA Edge on the Web (at www.taedge.com) and
found the name there written as TA-Edge.
To hyphen or not to hyphen, we wondered -- and called the firm
to ask.
The answer is no hyphen and the error -- in the company's own
name -- appears on the Web site.
Peter said the company is aware of the issue and working to make
the naming consistent.
He said the company name went through an evolution -- from
hyphenated to not -- and that explained the name seen on the
site.
But, the evolution continues: In an even newer incarnation, the
company trademark is Taedge.
New Age antics
Peter Carideo, president of Chicago-based CRC Travel, found a
new way to deal with those annoying telemarketing calls that even
businesses get in the middle of the day.
"What I tell these people is that next month we're ripping out
all of our phones and doing all of our business by computer and on
the Internet.
"A couple of years ago, they probably wouldn't have believed me,
but now they don't flinch. They say, 'Oh, OK, we won't call you
again.' "
Score one for the new information age.
'Escape' has escaped
Universal Studios Escape, the Orlando destination resort
encompassing Universal Studios Florida, Universal's Islands of
Adventure, the Portofino Bay Hotel and the Universal City Walk
dining-entertainment zone, quietly changed its day-to-day operating
name to Universal Orlando.
However, the change came too late for most travel guidebooks
produced for 2000 reference.
How many does it take?
It had been a rough day.
Sprint rejected our phone card call from San Juan to St. Thomas
because "you have not used your card on this 'route' in quite a
while."
Click.
AT&T then rejected our newly issued company phone card: "You
are not recognized as an authorized user."
Click.
Our evening flight from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas was seconds
from takeoff when the pilot announced the runway lights on St.
Thomas weren't working.
We got off the plane, grumbled and climbed the stairs back up to
the gate.
Information was not forthcoming. Beleaguered gate staff repeated
innumerable times that "instructions are coming from Dallas."
Dallas?
The problem was on St. Thomas.
How about just changing the light bulbs, eh?