Friday, December 12, 2008

Rusian (for Russian)

"History would be an excellent thing if only it were true," according to Russian author Leo Tolstoy. This may have given birth to what was described as the "Great Russian Joke" in the latter days of the Soviet Union. Question: "What is the definition of a historian?" Answer: "Someone who can predict the past." Rusian is an error that is on the 'C' or moderate probability list in Typographical Errors in Library Databases, meaning that it was found at least 8 times, but not more than 15 in OhioLINK at the time of its discovery. Its place on this list seems to be the result of sloppy typing followed by sloppy proofreading.

Today's photograph adds symmetry to the week. On Monday we were standing on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco looking west. This photo, taken atop Russian Hill, looks back to Coit Tower.