Postiv* (for Positive)

I'm not absolutely positive about this (some may be correctly spelled foreign words, variant spellings, etc.), but I'm pretty sure there were 35 instances of today's typo in OhioLINK this morning. We also got close to 800 hits in WorldCat; some, however, are undoubtedly not for the typo in question. For example, postivaras, which is Finnish for "mail storage" and possibly poštivci, which appears to have something to do with postcards in Polish. You'll have to be careful with this one and go directly to the source if you're not entirely certain what word you're dealing with. The word positive generally has pretty positive connotations, with the notable exception of the way in which it can sometimes signify the dreaded presence of HIV/AIDS. Playwright and gay activist Larry Kramer learned that he was HIV positive in 1988, but he hasn't succumbed to the disease and continues to actively crusade on the issue. You may get some false positives in your catalog search today, or even find that this one's gone viral, but if you keep a positive outlook, you should be able to eradicate a fair number of these typos.

(Larry Kramer in 2010, by David Shankbone, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Homesex* (for Homosex*)

Homosexual behavior used to be considered rather outré and usually something you had to leave home in order to engage in. But with the legalization of gay marriage, we've come a long way toward making it as commonplace and pedestrian as the "domestic bliss" that most heteros endure, I mean enjoy. On Sunday, hundreds of gay and lesbian couples were married in New York City after the passage of the Marriage Equality Act on June 24. This made New York the sixth and largest state in the union to legalize the tying of the gay knot. Most same-sexers present a united front in the fight for "marriage equality," but, just like with straight folks, there are bound to be a few ideological holdouts—such as Larry Kramer and Fran Lebowitz. There were three examples of Homesex* in OhioLINK and 44 in WorldCat.

(Marriage of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, June 16, 2008, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid