Friday, April 25, 2008

Reocrd* (for Record, etc.)

The REO Motor Car Company and its founder and namesake Ransom Eli Olds richly deserve their street cred. (The latter's name was also immortalized in the General Motors Oldsmobile.) The company vacillated between spelling it REO and Reo, but went on record with it as an acronym ("Rio"), not an initialism as the rock band REO Speedwagon did. I've often referred to typos as speed bumps while reading (though perhaps potholes is a better metaphor) and currently there are 28 records in OhioLINK that could be retrieved with a little more speed if they didn't include this one. (Pictured here is the REO Speed Wagon Fire Truck at the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

No comments: