The Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL) was formed by Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson to correct spelling and grammatical errors on public signs in the US. They used correction fluid, duct tape, spray paint, and cameras to record their successes. However, they faced legal troubles when they attempted to correct a sign in the Grand Canyon, resulting in fines and a ban from national parks. The incident prompted an apology on TEAL’s website and may impact future missions.
Most people have noticed at least one obvious typo or spelling error on a public sign or commercial advertisement, but few actually take the extra steps necessary to correct it. However, two activist grammarians named Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson took a stand against wholesale spelling and grammatical errors by forming the Typo Eradication Advancement League, or TEAL. The Typo Eradication Advancement League’s primary cause is the immediate, if not necessarily sanctioned, remediation of publicly visible typos on signs throughout the United States.
Weapons of choice for members of the Typo Eradication Advancement League include white correction fluid, black duct tape, spray paint, and cameras to record their successes. Once a TEAL team successfully corrected a misspelled sign, photos of the event would be posted on a website owned and operated by Deck or Herson.
During the early days of the Typo Eradication Advancement League, most missions involved privately owned signs promoting “restaurants” or selling “magizines.” If a sign could be corrected by the addition or subtraction of a few letters, a TEAL member would make the appropriate changes, record the event for posterity, and then move on to the next glaring mistake.
Once plans to eradicate all public typos and spelling mistakes got more ambitious, however, TEAL started to face some serious legal troubles. Defacing public signs, even in the interest of better grammar, is still considered a crime, and this is where the original incarnation of the Typo Eradication Advancement League may have met its grammatical Waterloo.
A 1930s hand-painted sign located in the Grand Canyon contained an extra apostrophe in its text, so it became a possible campaign target for TEAL. The TEAL team attempted to correct this grammatical error by painting over the errant apostrophe. This action prompted the federal government to arrest TEAL members and charge them with defacing federal property, a potentially serious offense with large monetary fines and the possibility of federal prison.
Following a hearing, TEAL members were fined several thousand dollars and banned from entering any national park for one year. The sign at the Grand Canyon was repaired, including the foreign apostrophe that had initially irritated the TEAL organizers. In 2008, a substantial apology appeared on TEAL’s website for vandalizing federal property. A proposed project called Typo Hunt Across America may or may not have been impacted by the Grand Canyon incident, but the threat of future lawsuits from irate sign owners could prove to be a factor in the League’s future advancement missions. elimination of typing errors.
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