Typos

Why one should never trust a spelling checker...

I admit it. I make errors. Public ones. Like writing this:

For those of us who were once English teachers, to funny not to share... Doug

And of course, the misspelling was brought to my attention:

I am a devout reader of your blog (not that I always agree with you), but I felt, as an English teacher, the need to point out the irony of the mistake in your first sentence...

"For those of us who were once English teachers, to funny not to share"

"too funny"

No offense intended!

So, OK. That was embarrassing. I replied:

Hi,

Here are the possible reasons I made such an error:

• I deliberately left out the second “o” because my computer is running low on them and I need to conserve.
• I’ve always been confused about to, too, and 2 (as well as tutu – both the costume and the politician).
• This was actually a contest to see who could find the error – AND YOU WON!
• Like the Navajo blanket weavers, I purposely make an error in each thing I write, honoring the notion that only God is perfect.
• I suck at proofing my own writing and need to take the time to do a better job of it.

Anywho, I will leave the error in situ as a lesson in humility. Thanks for the catch.

All the best,

Doug

While making such a dumb mistake and being called on it never exactly makes my day, it doesn't really slow me down much either. Nor should concern about your own writing being perfect prior to publication keep you from writing and publishing. Fear of errors keeps too (or to) many people from contributing to the common good.

After writing I don't know how many words in books, articles, columns and this dumb blog, you'd think I would get better at crafting a decent sentence and avoiding typos. But I still can't re-read a single thing I've written without the urge to re-write - even if just a little. And deliberate or not, I bet almost everything I've written still has grammar or spelling errors still in it.

_______________________

On a completely un-related note, my buddy Ian Jukes is still suffering from a foot infection. In my last email to him, I suggested that he simply lose the foot and attach a wheel or inline skate or even a little skateboard. I listed several advantages:

• easier to make close connections at airports with new speed
• add a few LED lights and do a big “Starlight Express” number as a finale to his keynotes
• big down hills = no need for taxis
• twice the life from one pair of socks
• add a generator to recharge the laptop and cell phone

I am sure there are other benefits as well. But I also realize that he is probably more attached to his foot than I am. This is my Heely-envy coming out. When will they make these things for my size weight person?

Could this be Ian's big finish to his future keynotes?

Comments

[walt crawford]

You're not the only one. It's very difficult to proofread your own work with 100% success.

I suspect there's never been an issue of Cites & Insights that didn't have at least one typo (and I won't change the published version to fix them unless there are factual issues). I'm certain there are typos in many of my blog posts. When I was readying my latest book for PoD publication, I stopped cycling through the pages looking for typos when I found fewer than four in one pass...and, sure enough, yesterday found an error in the index. (It's published now, and not worth republishing for that trivial error.)

People who don't make misteaks are probably insufferable in other ways too. (Yes, that one was deliberate.)

[Doug Johnson]

Thanks, Walt. Glad to no I’m knot a loan.

Doug

[Libby]

This is not related to any of your professional comments, but your referral to Starlight Express took me back to elementary school in the late 80s. The cool fifth grader on our block was a fan and so the rest of us became fans--learning multiple songs for our assigned characters. Thanks for the fun nostalgia!

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Libby,

The show has fond associations for me as well. Between my son’s sophomore and junior years of high school, he and I did a tour of Europe – focusing on the great art museums. (We called it the Great Nudes of All Time Tour.) Anyway, while in London we went to see Starlight Express in the theater, I believe, in which it opened. Don’t remember as single song or much of the plot, but I remember having a nice evening.

All the best and thanks for the comment,

Doug