Glossay, Glossry, Glosary (for Glossary)

Often you can tell what a word means simply by seeing it in context; other times you'll need to check the glossary. If you were reading about house painting, for example, you might find this definition for gloss listed in the back of the book: "A surface shininess or luster; polish or sheen." Paints are usually designated according to such a scale (gloss, semi-gloss, or flat). But some manufacturers take it even further in terms of nuance, bandying about such sensual-sounding but mystifying descriptors as silk, suede, eggshell, platinum, pearl, melamine, velvet, and satin. You may not find good definitions for these words on the back of a paint can, but when it isn't enough to just say "gloss," you can always consult the MPI standards. Glossay appears five times in OhioLINK, Glossry another five times, and Glosary ten times, making them all semi-glossy typos of low-to-moderate probability.

(Peeling paint at a New York City subway station, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Muscial* (for Musical*)

Today's typo turns up a toe-tapping 34 times in OhioLINK, which makes it a "high probability" typo on the Ballard list. The Eldest Nibling (which sounds like it might be a Gilbert and Sullivan song, but is in fact based on a submission to the "Word Fugitives" column in The Atlantic meaning "offspring of a sibling, one's niece or nephew") was recently seen playing the part of the Pirate King in the musical The Pirates of Penzance. The plot is driven by a sort of auditory typo—young Frederic is mistakenly indentured to a group of pirates, rather than pilots. Opening at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in 1879, this was the first G&S vehicle to premiere in New York City. Copyright protection did not exist at that time and the two artists were anxious to prevent the "pirating" of their opera abroad, a fate that had befallen H.M.S. Pinafore and would continue to plague future collaborations. Just like the eponymous "pirates" playing at illicit adventures on the high seas, my nibling's middle school production had a lot of flash, dash, and panache. Yo-ho-ho and a package of gum! Bravo, kids!

(Photo of Catherine Ferguson, Nellie Briercliffe, and Ella Milne in The Pirates of Penzance, 1930, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Souvenier*, Souveneir* (for Souvenir*)

The word souvenir comes from the French for memory and means "memento or keepsake; an object a traveler brings home for the memories associated with it." The Eiffel Tower was the key to the 1878 Exposition Universelle and has served as a symbol of Paris ever since. In So Long at the Fair, the 1950 British thriller starring Jean Simmons and Dirk Bogarde, extraordinary measures are taken to prevent people from panicking in the streets, setting off an escalating chain of events, and fleeing the city. The title comes from the nursery rhyme that goes: "Oh dear, what can the matter be? Johnny's so long at the fair..." The mystery is not unlocked until the final moments of the film, which has a wonderfully Hitchockian flair. I won't say any more in case you haven't seen it yet, but here are a few other things I learned about the 1878 World's Fair. While the fair revolved around the tower, it also exhibited some other remarkable sights, such as the head of the Statue of Liberty, various inventions by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, and even, per Wikipedia, "a human zoo, called a 'negro village,' composed of 400 'indigenous people.'" The exposition also gave rise to a series of meetings eventuating in the formulation of international standards and copyright law, the standardization of mail flow from one country to another, and the universal adoption of Braille. Souvenier* appears 28 times in OhioLINK and Souveneir* twice.

(Keychain of the Eiffel Tower, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Errata: A reader writes in to correct an error by pointing out that the film was about the 1889 exposition, not the 1878 one. (There were expos in Paris during each decade of the last half of the 19th century and beyond.) Apparently, the "negro village" continued to be the main attraction in 1889, but the other details mentioned above pertain to the 1878 fair, not the 1889 one that introduced the Eiffel Tower.

Pronouncia*, etc. (for Pronunciation, etc.)

Pronouncia* is our typo for the day. It occurs 59 times in OhioLINK, registering as "high probability" on the Ballard list. (Pronuci* is found there 12 times and Pronouc* nine times.) Depending on how you look at it, Toki Pona is a feel-good, prescriptive, politically correct, minimalist, or Zen-like form of communication. It was introduced in 2001 by Toronto resident Sonja Elen Kisa. This Esperanto-like language contains a mere 123 words and 14 sounds. Feminists may be drawn to it for its lack of gender-specific pronouns. Toki Pona is sometimes referred to as "the simple language of good." However, there are people who find it a little too good to be true and have compared it to George Orwell's "Newspeak." I'd like to be able to report that there are no typos in Toki Pona, but I fear that might be painting a bit too sunny of a picture as well.

(Pronunciation chart for Toki Pona, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Security mesures (For Security measures)

Social engineering is the practice of gaining someone’s trust to illicitly obtain information. Hackers pretend to be someone else--maintenance men, co-workers, and people of authority. They use tactics such as intimidation or acting helpless to persuade others to give them passwords and other sensitive information. An example of social engineering would be a hacker finding a company phone book in a Dumpster, then calling the computer department posing as a higher-up and asking for a password. Of course, this is a really simplified plan, but if a hacker has collected sensitive information about a company over time, then it would be easier to make the illusion complete. In short, it is in a company or library’s best interest to think outside the box about security measures.

The phrase Security mesures produces 4 hits in OhioLink, placing it in the Low Probability section of the Ballard List.

(still image from the film The Sting from Google Images)

Janelle Fore

Japanse* (For Japanese, etc.)

The Ainu are an indigenous people of Japan. However, they were not recognized by the Japanese government until 2008. Their origins are unknown, but due to differences between their physical features and the Japanese ethnic majority—fair skin, long hair/beards, large bone structure—it has been speculated that they descended from the people of the Jomon period. The Ainu religion is shamanistic; the bear is especially revered. In the 1800s, the Japanese government tried to erase the Ainu culture by forcing them to change their names and send their children to Japanese schools. They could not speak their own language. Today there is a revival of Ainu culture in Japan. Many of the lost generation are learning their heritage and language. Public dances and festivals are held, such as the theatrical staging of the iyomante ritual (bear sacrifice) and the Marimo (Spherical Algae) Festival.

Japanse* appears in the Moderate Probability section of the Ballard List. A keyword search in OhioLink returns 68 entries. Most of these items look like they are in Dutch. Several online Dutch translators convert Japanese to Japans/Japanse. Consult your favorite Dutch speaker for accuracy.

(Ainu woman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuckibaboo/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Janelle Fore

Mrs. Polifax (For Mrs. Pollifax)

Looking for a light, entertaining read to take your mind off of the upcoming holiday rush? Dorothy Gilman’s comic spy series Mrs. Pollifax might be for you. Kindly widow and garden club member Emily Pollifax finds herself accidentally thrust into a life of exotic, jet-setting espionage. A letter mix-up lands her a job at the CIA, and because Mrs. Pollifax’s demeanor gives her perfect cover, she finds her normally placid schedule full of globe-trotting adventure. Gilman penned fourteen of these cozy mysteries. A cozy mystery is recommended for someone who enjoys a clean read—little or no sex or violence in the plot. This website further defines "cozy mystery" and lists many series and authors–a good site to have on hand if you have a patron that enjoys this subgenre.

Mrs. Polifax appears two times in OhioLink and was in Moderate Probability section at the time it was added to the Ballard List.

(Rosalind Russell as Mrs. Pollifax from Google Images)

Janelle Fore