Neatorama » typos

Muphry’s Law

Miss Cellania — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:55:54 +0000

Here’s a law that strikes home here at Neatorama. There have been times when I’ve proofread, edited, and corrected the same thing ten times, but somehow a typo appears in the published version. I blame extraterrestrials. John Bangsund of the Victorian Society of Editors coined the term Muphry’s Law in 2003. It states:

1. if you write anything criticising editing or proofreading, there will be a fault in what you have written;
2. if an author thanks you in a book for your editing or proofreading, there will be mistakes in the book;
3. the stronger the sentiment in (a) and (b), the greater the fault; and
4. any book devoted to editing or style will be internally inconsistent

The law also goes on to state how readers will see these errors instantly. Link -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: Flickr user Squid Ink)

A Journey across America, Correcting Typos

John Farrier — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:21:58 +0000

Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson were men on a mission. Their quest was to travel across the United States, fixing typos on public signs. The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing The World, One Correction At A Time is their book about the journey. NPR reports:

Some typos were uncorrectable — out of the team’s reach, or, as Deck tells NPR’s Tony Cox, requiring tools and materials that weren’t included in his “typo correction kit.”

Deck carried a variety of Sharpies, of which “the black Sharpie was the most important.” Deck also carried Wite-Out, dry erase markers, chalk, crayons and pens.

Sometimes Deck and Herson couldn’t get permission from the typo-maker to make an adjustment to the signage. “They would turn us down, or they’d be apathetic about it,” says Deck.

“Or they’d say ‘Oh, we’ll fix that one later,’ and we’d really have to take their word on that.”

At the link, you can find an excerpt from their book.

Link via The Agitator | Amazon Link | Photo: Benjamin D. Herson

How to Get Comments

Miss Cellania — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:34:11 +0000

Chuck and Beans discover what we’ve known here at Neatorama for a long time. This comic was created by by Brian at Shoebox Blog. Link -via Geeks Are Sexy

The Best Media Errors of 2009

Minnesotastan — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:18:30 +0000

Regret the Error is a blog that takes note of errors, corrections, and apologies in print and electronic media; each December the most notable incidents are compiled. Here are some selections from 2009:

In my column on August 22 I suggested that Sharon Osbourne was an unemployed, drugaddled, unfit mum with a litter of feral kids. This was not intended to be taken literally. I fully accept she is none of these things and sincerely apologise to Sharon and her family for my unacceptable comments. Sorry Sharon…

In printed copies of Monday’s Daily Universe, due to a spelling error in a photo caption, the word “apostles” was replaced with a different word [apostates]. The Daily Universe apologizes to the Quorum of the Twelve and our readers for the error.

This article was amended on Tuesday 20 January 2009. In our entry on Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon Days, we referred to a Prairie Ho Companion; we meant a Prairie Home Companion. This has been corrected.

The original article provided the incorrect location of New York University’s new institution. It is in Abu Dhabi, not Abu Ghraib.

Many more examples at the Link, where there are sublinks to additional compilations from the past five years.

“Swan Flu” and Other Commonly Misspelled Search Terms of the Month

Alex — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:20:37 +0000

All of you Neatoramanauts know that we love tpyos here at Neatorama, but even we know how to spell Susan Boyle, MySpace and Swine Flu – those are just three of the most commonly misspelled (or perhaps mistyped) searches in Yahoo!

Vera H-C Chan of Yahoo! Buzz’ The Buzz Log has the list:

Recent Orthographic Abuses of the English Language on Yahoo!, Past 30 Days

* Swan Flu (for Swine Flu)
* Susan Boil (for "Britain’s Got Talent" contender Susan Boyle)
* Brack Obama (for U.S. President Barack Obama)
* Sonia Sotomeyer (for Supreme Court justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor)
* Rachel Ray (for Food Network host Rachael Ray)
* Paperview boxing (for cable programming pay-per-view boxing)
* Amtrack (for train system Amtrak)
* Wallmart (for retailer Wal-Mart)
* Farrah Faucet (for actress Farrah Fawcett)
* Rod Steward (for singer Rod Stewart)
* Arlene Specter (for Senator Arlen Specter)
* “Dancing With the Starts” (for ABC reality competition Dancing With the Stars)
* Bea Author” (for the late comedian Bea Arthur)
* Brittany Spears (for singer Britney Spears)
* Chris Allen (for “American Idol” winner Kris Allen)
* Configure worm (for computer virus Conficker worm)
* Mysapce (for MySpace)

Link – via USA Today

Previously on Neatorama: Swine Flu: Bacon’s Revenge