August 20, 2007 - Poerty

In a nod to "Bad Poetry Day" (August 18), the typo for today is Poerty. I found eight of 'em lurking in OhioLINK, which makes it a typo of "moderate probability." The Ballard list also includes Poetrical and Poetery, ranking their likelihood as of the "low" and "lowest" kind. In an example of decidedly not bad poetry, the eponymous Raven is fond of saying "Nevermore," but that's something we can really never say. Though our collective Muse might wish us to banish these typos forevermore, the best we can guarantee is to be on our guard against them. Edgar Allan Poe once said that a poem should be written "for the poem's sake," so for Poe's sake, let's try and provide the best bibliographic access to poetry we can. Beware as well the common misapprehension (Allen for Allan) when you ponder his middle name, there being well over 100 dreary cases in OhioLINK of this forgotten lore.

Carol Reid