Reslut*, etc. (for Result*)

The four-letter word slut has a long and checkered history, beginning in the fifth century (Middle English slutte) with the meaning "mud or impure liquid." The word has been recycled many times and acquired various shades of meaning (generally, a prostitute or sexually adventurous or "loose" woman; additionally, a "maid or kitchen drudge," a female dog, a promiscuous gay man, a slob or "slattern"). Foreign words for "slut" also abound, from the French (traînée, souillon, dévergondée) to the Italian (sgualdrina, sciattona, troia), Swedish (slarva, subba, slampa, jänta), Spanish (marrana, puerca, mujerzuela), German (Schlampe), etc. There are even sluts in Kansas. (Not to mention Southern California, according to The Onion in a bit that you may or may not find funny.) We found four results for Reslut* (along with seven for Rsult* and two for Reslt*) in OhioLINK the last time we checked, so keep an eye out for them and don't be slatternly when it comes to cleaning up your catalog.

(Matthew Edwards' son dressed as Dorothy Gale and brother-in-law as a slut, Halloween 2008, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Retirment (for Retirement)

According to WikiAnswers, that great fount of web wisdom, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. served on the Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932, retiring at the age of 90, just two months shy of his 91st birthday. That makes him the oldest Supreme Court justice ever, unless John Paul Stevens, now 89, stays on the job past February 2011. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. had been influential in getting doctors to wash their hands in a busy hospital and his son was equally effective at preventing people from crying fire (when there wasn't one) in a crowded theater. Enjoying his many years on the bench, O.W.H. Jr. wouldn't cry uncle and be a willing retiree. (Currently, term limits for Supreme Court justices are considered unconstitutional.) We found ten cases of missing E's in the typo Retirment (for retirement) in the OhioLINK database. Make a decision in favor of fixing any of these you may find in your own catalog today.

(Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1924, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Afirca*, Arfica (for Africa*)

We found six cases of Afirca* and one of Arfica (for Africa, African, etc.) in our database files this morning. Our typo for the day was chosen in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King—iconic civil rights leader, political activist, and folk hero to millions of African-Americans and others over the last half a century. Reverend King, whose birthday we celebrate today, embodied all the hope, change, and hope of change (along with all the tragedy) that epitomized the sixties and transformed life as we knew it. I always love seeing the children's art exhibits for Martin Luther King Day in the complex where I work and this year was no exception. (One difference, though, being the bemusing way Barack Obama's "Yes, We Can!" rallying cry would occasionally pop up among the more traditional "I Have a Dream" talk bubbles.) My favorite pieces were the MLK bobblehead doll made out of clay, and a little clothespin-figured shoebox diorama with a sign reading: "When you look at this project you will see Dr. Martin King when he made things fair for everyone." Amen, kid.

(Dr. King and Coretta Scott King, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Egineer* (for Engineer*)

The Powerpuff Girls weren't so much born as engineered by their egghead father Professor Utonium. He was trying to create "the perfect little girl" when he accidentally dumped some "Chemical X" into the usual mixture of sugar, spice, and everything nice. The feistiest of the cartoon super-trio is the brunette one, Buttercup, voiced by the blonde actress E.G. Daily. Our daily typo this morning is Egineer* and nearly a dozen of 'em were found lurking in OhioLINK, making this a "moderate probability" troublemaker in your catalog and one that should be taken out at your earliest convenience.

(Buttercup looking egged on, from Flickr.)

Carol Reid

Martin Scorcese (for Martin Scorsese)

Mea culpa, mea culpa, I misspelled Martin Scorsese. Who sez? Well, at least two alert TotDfL readers who kindly pointed out the error. I made this sorry mistake in my blog entry on Monday, but at least I'm not the only one who sometimes gets it wrong. I found eight cases of the filmmaker's name incorrectly spelled Scorcese in OhioLINK this morning. That's not a great score, though there could be a lot more. So go and check your catalogs to make sure you got Marty's name spelled right in there. Yeah, I'm talkin' to you!

(Martin Scorsese, courtesy of Flickr.)

Carol Reid

Alfed, Alferd, Alfrd (for Alfred)

Alfed appears 19 times in OhioLINK (all of them typos for Alfred) and Alferd 16 times (more than half of those refer to Alferd G. Packer, a convicted though possibly innocent 19th-century cannibal; several others include a "sic" or are unclear as to the correct spelling). I found four results for Alfrd as well. There are lots of interesting "Alfreds" out there: the aforementioned Packer, whose actual name Alfred was misspelled by a tattoo artist and stuck; Alfred Hitchcock; Alfred Kinsey; Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Alfred E. Neuman; etc. But the one that intrigues me the most at the moment is Alfred Jarry, father of the so-called Theatre of the Absurd. I just saw a local performance of his notorious 1896 play Ubu Roi—or, as it was alternatively titled in this case, Ubu Rex. King Ubu, according to Wikipedia, is "one of the most monstrous and astonishing characters in French literature." And, especially in this adaptation by Oakley Hall III in which Ubu and Mother Ubu are played by gigantic puppets, the most seemingly well fed as well. (Ubu's campaign platform, such as it was, was to tax everyone twice, take all their food, and then kill them.) Alfred Jarry was a 19th-century "merry prankster" and had quite a few idiosyncrasies of his own. He pronounced each and every syllable in a word and eschewed intonation. He referred to himself using the royal we. He named the wind "that which blows" and his bicycle "that which rolls." He adored alcohol and particularly absinthe ("the green goddess") and once merged his love of the drink and the love of his bike by painting his face green and riding through the center of town. Fey and fastidious to the very end, his final request was for a toothpick. (Fascinating factoid: the name Alfred means "counsel of elves.")

(Photograph of Alfred Jarry in Alfortville, Paris, France.)

Carol Reid

Vegitarian*, Vegatarian* (for Vegetarian*)

Much to the consternation of the local vegetarian/vegan community, the Honest Weight Food Co-op has recently started carrying organic, free-range, grass-fed, and otherwise exemplary cuts of meat. (A carnivorous friend of mine with a cynical sense of humor suggests that maybe the co-op's meat department should be renamed "Murder.") And as if that's not enough, now we're also stocking lard—lard, which has long been considered the absolute worst substance any health-conscious consumer could possibly ingest. When they say not to eat anything "white" (flour, sugar, milk, etc.), lard is probably at the top of the list. The assumption is that it simply goes one of two ways upon reaching the stomach: either straight to your heart or directly to your butt ("lardass"). Those of us who can now make wonderfully flaky pie crusts and deep-fried whatevers are currently and quietly rejoicing, though I personally feel an obligation to try and calm the nerves of those who aren't. So here goes. A Google search on lard + "the new health food" gets about 33,000 hits. Outfits as redoubtable as the New York Times are touting its usefulness in cooking, along with its newfound nutritional value (it's a rich source of vitamin D). The latter is the sticking point for most people, but it seems that the saturated and monounsaturated fats (like lard, coconut oil, and olive oil) are arguably better for you than the polyunsaturated ones we've pledged our troth to for so many years. I won't lard it on too thickly here; you can go and research this for yourself. I recommend the Weston Price Foundation for more information on healthy fats, along with this informative article by co-op member Miriam Axel-Lute. The typo Vegitarian* shows up three times today in OhioLINK, Vegatarian* twice.

(Bread spread with lard, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid