Gentic* (for Genetic, etc.)

I absolutely dread going to the dentist, and now it seems I might have a scientific reason for my pre-appointment anxiety. You see, I’m a redhead, and according to the New York Times “Well” blog, the latest research shows that many of us have a genetic mutation affecting our sensitivity to pain. Redheads often need larger doses of general anesthesia, and they can be resistant to Novocaine and other painkilling drugs used by dentists. As a group, we’re twice as likely as people with other hair colors to avoid dental care altogether.

Gentic* is moderate-probability typo with 12 hits in the OhioLINK database, although one is a valid entry for “Genticorum.” Take a look, and you might just find some of these painful errors in your own catalog.

Incidentally, my dentist is a great guy. He even has a sign in the waiting room announcing “We cater to cowards!”

(family of four 2, by lusi, from stock.xchng)

Deb Kulczak

Geriatic* (for Geriatric, etc.)

Our household revolves around four tiny furballs, all of them rescue Pomeranians. Friends who work in the business tell us that after about age four, a dog’s chances of adoption are slim to none. But because Poms can easily live into their mid or upper teens, we’ve never hesitated to take in “seniors” as old as seven or eight.

Still, until fairly recently, we’d never adopted a geriatric one older than ten years. When we finally took the plunge, we discovered firsthand what many others have said: they truly understand the gift you’ve given them, and they’ll be your devoted companions and protectors for as long as they live.

Geriatic* is a typo of low probability on the Ballard list. There are currently 5 instances of it in the OhioLINK catalog.

(Anna Banana, our first geriatric rescue Pom)

Deb Kulczak

Prodc* (for Produce, Production, etc.)

It’s summer here in Arkansas, and the local produce stands are well stocked with that unparalleled gem of the season, the tomato. Who would guess this tasty treat is actually a member of the nightshade family, which includes not only potatoes and eggplants, but also tobacco and deadly nightshade (the source of belladonna)?

John Denver expressed in song what many of us no doubt feel about tomatoes:

Plant 'em in the spring, eat ‘em in the summer
All winter without ‘em is a culinary bummer
I forget all about the sweatin’ and the diggin’
Every time I go out and pick me a big ‘un
Home grown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes
What would life be like without homegrown tomatoes?
Only two things that money can’t buy
That's true love and home grown tomatoes

Prodc* is a typo of moderate-probability on the Ballard list. There are 32 English-language entries in OhioLINK representing words such as produce(d), producer, product, production, and procedure. Many are in transcribed fields and would have to be checked, while one (“PRODCOM”) does not appear to be a typo.

(Tomatoes, by rosym, from stock.xchng)

Deb Kulczak

Revalat* (for Revelation, etc.)

Julian of Norwich was a 14th century English mystic and the author of Revelations of Divine Love (or Showings), long considered a classic work of medieval spirituality. An AUTOCAT reader sent me a charming quote of Julian’s in response to my earlier blog post about Neil Armstrong and his impressions of Earth as seen from space. Taken from Revelations, this passage is often interpreted as a vision of the cosmos.

And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, "What may this be?"And it was answered generally thus, "It is all that is made." I marvelled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nought for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God.

The low-probability typo Revalat* is anything but divine. There are 8 instances of it in the OhioLINK catalog.

(Statue of Julian, Norwich Cathedral, by David Holdgate; photo by Leo Reynolds, posted on Flickr)

Deb Kulczak

Cheklist*, Chcklist* (for Checklist*)

Frankly, I was a little depressed to find nary a typo for either Chicklist* or Checklit* in the entire OhioLINK database, but I quickly chucked all that and lit out instead in search of something for which Czechs might find themselves at the top of the list. So I checked and, sure enough, according to The Economist in 2006, Czechoslovakia ranked as the highest alcohol-consuming nation in the world. Adding a certain mystique to that half-impressive, half-depressing statistic is the land of Kafka and Kundera's longtime love affair with "The Green Fairy" (or la Fée Verte), the thujone-infused libation known as absinthe. Next time you're in Czechoslovakia, you might want to check out the world through green-colored glasses. (Or else you could just gaze upon a window display like this one in Prague.) There are two cases of Cheklist* and two of Chcklist* in OhioLINK, and 54 and five, respectively, in WorldCat.

(Viktor Oliva's "The Absinthe Drinker," the original of which can be found in the Café Slavia in Prague, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Aaron Copeland (for Aaron Copland)

Today's typo appears 41 times in OhioLINK (with the two words unlinked,14 times for "Aaron Copeland"), making it a typo of "moderate to high probability." Copland is the Anglicized version of Kaplan, which was the surname of Aaron Copland's father. At that time, America was both a land of opportunity and a land of coping for many Jewish immigrants. Although he was blessed with native talent, a musical mother, and four encouraging older siblings, all was not completely copacetic for Copland. He was fortunate to have studied under Rubin Goldmark, but later remarked that the teacher possessed "little sympathy for the advanced musical idioms of the day" and that his list of "approved" composers ended with Richard Strauss. Later, in Paris, he took lessons from Nadia Boulanger, despite the fact that "no one to my knowledge had ever before thought of studying with a woman." (Copland was Boulanger's first American pupil.) The young man apparently rejected such preemptive sexism and summed up the experience thusly: "This intellectual Amazon is not only professor at the Conservatoire, is not only familiar with all music from Bach to Stravinsky, but is prepared for anything worse in the way of dissonance. But make no mistake … A more charming womanly woman never lived." Aaron Copland, while regarded as shy, diffident, and private (in the way of all gays back in the olden days), had a full life and prodigious career. He often supported left-wing causes and was blacklisted in the fifties for having Communist sympathies. Ultimately, he became known as "the dean of American composers."

(Portrait of Aaron Copland, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Remeber* (for Remember, etc.)

Remember, don't talk with your mouth full, especially if it's full of cookie crumbs, or it might come out sounding like Remeber instead. The best cookie in the world (or the most memorable, anyway, having been memorialized by Marcel Proust in the book Remembrance of Things Past) is the mouthwatering madeleine, pictured to the right. This cookie isn't quite as easy to bake as the typo is to make, but it's certainly worth a try. And if you're lucky, you might bump into a package of ready-made madeleines at the grocery store, just as I did a month or so ago. After making sure to pick some up on every single shopping trip after that, they suddenly disappeared one day, leaving me to continue wandering over to the spot where they had once lain and stare wistfully at the counter. If I'm remembering rightly, our typo for today was counted 16 times in OhioLINK.

(Madeleines de Commercy, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid