Identy, Identiy (for Identity, Identify)

Rah rah "cis" boom bah! The word cis has entered the LGBTQLFTSQIA (as Dan Savage would put it) lexicon. It refers to people whose biologically assigned gender (i.e., male or female) more or less lines up with the way they actually see themselves. It's the opposite of trans (as in transsexual or transgender). Although the letter C will not be joining the current "alphabet soup" of alternative gender identities that evolved from the 1970s "gay rights" movement, one can certainly be both cis and gay. You could say that "my sis is cis, but my bro is no," for example, without revealing anything about their sexual orientations per se. You don't have to identify your own identity right here and now, but anyone who's a cataloger should home in on today's typos and reassign them a proper spelling. There were four cases of Identy in OhioLINK, and 269 in WorldCat. Identiy was found 18 times in the former and 231 times in the latter.

(Polish cheerleaders, 19 February 2009, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Metphor* (for Metaphor*)

I wrote about "conflated idioms" a couple weeks ago; some of these are what's commonly known as "mixed metaphors," while others aren't. One of my favorite metaphorical mix-ups is one that occurred between a friend of mine and his dentist. At some point during a recent visit, the dentist told him that he was "sharp as a cookie." The receptionist then gently corrected him: "It's sharp as a tack." They all laughed at that, but were sort of puzzled: where do cookies come into it? Until they remembered a similar saying: "You're one sharp cookie." Which has nothing to do with actual cookies being sharp (one also sometimes hears "one smart cookie" and "one tough cookie"), but rather comes from the fact that "cookie" is an old-timey, affectionate slang term for pretty much anybody you might feel like calling that. One commenter compared it to "toots." My friend, his dentist, and the receptionist all chalked their confusion up to the fact that it was noontime and none of them had had their lunch yet. Metphor* (for metaphor*) is a "low probability" typo on the Ballard list, with three cases in OhioLINK, and 34 in WorldCat.

(Coconut fortune cookies, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Deptart* (for Depart*)

Under the new cataloging standard known as RDA, it seems we are now supposed to write out many of the words we used to abbreviate: for example, Department instead of Dept. DEP can stand for quite a number of things, one of which is "Department of Environmental Protection." And one way to protect both your internal and external environment might be to plant and eat more blueberries (high in antioxidants) or just more berries in general (they're all really good for you!) The word tart derives from tarte, torte, or torta, all having to do with baked goods of one sort or another. It can also be used to describe something sour, as well as a "prostitute" or "immoral woman." I'm unsure whether I found it reassuring, or not, with regard to the latter meaning, to learn that tart is "sometimes said to be a shortening of sweetheart." Speaking of shortening, sweetie-pie, don't depart for the day without cutting yourself a nice big slice of typo tart. There were 76 pieces of Deptart* in OhioLINK, and "too many records found for your search" in WorldCat.

(A blueberry tart, 31 May 2009, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Photograpy, Photograpi* (for Photography, Photographi*)

Today in 1839, England's Sir John Herschel created the first photographic glass-plate negative. He even coined the word photography from the Greek for "drawing with light" (unaware that Hércules Florence had come up with the French word photographie several years earlier). Besides being an experimental photographer, as well as an inventor, Herschel was also a mathematician, an astronomer, and a chemist. He was into things like color blindness and ultraviolet rays. A sampling of his many accomplishments includes the following: he originated the "Julian Day" system for use by astronomers; he named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus; he designed a "practical contact lens" in 1823; he wrote "A preliminary discourse on the study of natural philosophy" as part of Dionysius Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia (an effort that inspired Charles Darwin with a "burning zeal" to also make a contribution); he won many prestigious medals, awards, and accolades; he published a compilation of his own and his father's works called A General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters; and, oh yeah, in his spare time, he fathered twelve children. He was a scientific superstar. In 1834, after he and his wife Margaret had traveled to South Africa for reasons astral, Herschel suddenly found himself looking the other way—and stopping to smell the flowers. Happily out of the spotlight for a few years, Herschel photographed Cape Town's plant life with a camera lucida, while Margaret filled in the details. Together they produced 131 highly regarded botanical drawings, many of which were collected and published in 1996 as Flora Herscheliana. John Herschel once wrote: "Words are to the Anthropologist what rolled pebbles are to the Geologist—battered relics of past ages often containing within them indelible records capable of intelligent interpretation..." With that image in mind, please attend to the proper spelling of these photographic words, typos for which were discovered 43 (plus nine) times in OhioLINK and 295 (+ 364) times in WorldCat.

(Sir John Herschel, by Julia Margaret Cameron, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Touble* (for Trouble*)

In the musical words of Stephen Foster: "'Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave / 'Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore / 'Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave / Oh! Hard Times come again no more..." If hardship can mean trouble, then can hard times lead to "troubleship"? I love unintended neologisms like that one, which I heard somebody say on TV the other night: "We have enough troubleship with social media right now..." Such solecisms seem to me more fanciful than troubling, really, and not all that hard to parse. I've dubbed these semantical mash-ups and mix-ups "conflated idioms" and, not to go looking for trouble, but I have started keeping a little list, which currently includes the following: to churn (i.e., turn) one's stomach (actually, some say these two are synonymous, while others say only the contents of one's stomach churn, while things outside the stomach turn it); to pan (palm? hand? pawn?) something off; to pony over (pony up/fork over); to rake up (i.e., rake in/shore up?); "that was the crutch of their case" (crux/using something as a crutch); "I think I hit a fine tooth there" (hit a nerve/teeth have nerves/a fine-tooth comb?); "vanished into thin blue air" (this one could be legit, but to me it seems like it should be either vanished into thin air, or out of the blue); "You're trying to pull one over on me" (put one over on me/pull the wool over my eyes); "the two families were quick friends" (the speaker said they had made friends quickly, then referred to them as "fast friends"); to toy around with (toy with/play around with), etc., etc. Bubble, bubble, toil, and touble*! There were 16 cases of our typo here making trouble in OhioLINK, and 196 in WorldCat.

(Ships in Distress in a Heavy Storm, also known as The man-of-war 'Ridderschap' and 'Hollandia' on the rocks during a storm in the Strait of Gibraltar, by Ludolf Bakhuizen, circa 1690, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Chld* (for Child*)

An early scene in the Depression-era film Child Bride shows a young schoolteacher in the Ozarks quizzing her pupils on their homework. A one-room, ragtag assemblage of Appalachian children, even their spelling mistakes leave a lot to be desired: "binh" and "banbhish" for banish, "cataloqe" for catalogue, "motian" for mountain, "milkging" for milking. These kids have a lot on their minds besides getting an education, as do the makers of this so-called "educational" film, who state their intentions clearly at the outset: "Here is a page from the Book of Life ... The characters are real people who live deep in the heart of Thunderhead Mountain. In dramatizing life among these 'back yonder' folks, we aim neither to ridicule nor to defend their mode of living ... and if our story will help to abolish Child Marriage, it will have served its purpose..." The film was denied a "certificate of approval" by the Hays Production Code due to both its supposedly immoral subject matter and a nude swimming sequence involving twelve-year-old actress Shirley Mills (also known for playing Ruthie Joad in The Grapes of Wrath). It was distributed independently of the Hollywood system, but was still banned in many areas across the country. Some critics have called the swimming footage gratuitous and even exploitative, a cynical choice that works to undercut the movie's very theme, but I think it effectively serves two purposes. It allows the girl's lecherous hillbilly wannabe-husband to peep at her in various stages of undress, and it demonstrates an innocent, age-appropriate summer activity for the prepubescent Jennie and sweetheart Freddie, in clear contrast to the ugly "child bride" scenario waiting in the wings. While most of this film is really pretty bad, I was blown away by the scene in which Jennie's actual "old man" threatens her mother, forbids her to see Freddie, tries to bribe her with a store-bought baby doll, and plants a less than toothsome kiss on her literally pouting lips. The moment in which she tells the guy that she'll "try" and be good, and then dashes the doll to the ground as he retreats, redeemed the entire film for me. There were 37 hits on Chld* (for child*) in OhioLINK, and "too many records found for your search" in WorldCat.

(Jennie Colton, played by Shirley Mills, in a still from Child Bride's infamous skinny dipping scene, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Greatful* (for Grateful*)

The Grateful Dead was a really great band, whose jamming would never grate on any of its fans. Some of whom could often be seen standing outside a concert, hopefully waiting for a "miracle" (i.e., a last-minute ticket to a sold-out show). Truthfully, I've never been on either side of the Dead divide, but I was in a new location for an old pizza place the other night when I spotted this slight syntactical error emblazoned on a tip jar: "Donations of any amount are graciously accepted." While I'm not doubting that these guys would be gracious under almost any working conditions, I'm pretty sure the word they meant to use there was gratefully. Today's typo was found seven times in OhioLINK, and 276 times in WorldCat. (The sort of finding I'm always grateful for, though perhaps not always gracious about.)

P.S. A friend, who admires both the Grateful Dead and former Fairport Convention-eer Richard Thompson, tells me that the latter, during a recent gig in Albany, took a longish minute to tune his guitar, murmuring, "I hope it's worth it..." When he finished playing the song, someone in the audience yelled out, "So was it worth it?" Thompson took a beat and then replied: "That's not for me to say, really." (Gracious, if not entirely grateful.)

(John Perry Barlow, erstwhile lyricist for the Grateful Dead, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid