Serial-Killer Fiction? Not Even Clothes!

I am often amused by the grammatical errors to be found in press releases. You would think that with the amount of money publicists are paid, they could at least invest in good dictionaries.

But one release that came my way today, sent by a book publisher’s representative, really caught me off guard. It began:

As the holiday (and gift guide selection!) season approaches, I wanted to reach out to put a few books on your radar that would make for the perfect stalking stuffers. Both books are small enough to easily add to any stalking!

Of course, neither of the books mentioned thereafter had a darn thing to do with anybody following, pestering, or otherwise threatening another person; clearly, the publicist intended to use “stocking” rather than “stalking.” This is one of many cases where spell-checking software can’t save an incautious writer.