Monday, October 24, 2011

Diversti* (for Diversity)

We’re often told we should celebrate diversity. But while this sentiment nowadays refers to the human condition, consider this: according to the University of Illinois Extension site “Let’s Talk about Insects,” these creatures make up more than half of all living things in the world today. It’s estimated 10 quintillion of them (that’s 10,000,000,000,000,000,000) share the planet with us at any one time, and all total, there are more than one million insect species. It makes you wonder how we could possibly measure up!

Fortunately, the typo Diversti* is not nearly so prolific as our six-legged friends. There are only 2 English-language instances in the OhioLINK catalog, making it a low-probability error. Remove that restriction, and you get 2 more hits for “diverstissement,” a misspelling of the French word “divertissement” (meaning entertainment, recreation).

(Bumblebee, by P7r7, from Wikimedia Commons)

Deb Kulczak

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