Mocrofirm (for Microfilm, Microform)

Today’s blog entry should make you smile.  In much the same way that digitization has rendered microfilm largely obsolete, the typo Mocrofirm has apparently become extinct in library catalogs.  There are currently no entries for what was once a moderate-probability error in either the OhioLINK or WorldCat databases.  However, even though we're not so lucky with other variants that also appear on the Ballard list (some of which have been featured in past entries), we’ll leave those for another day.

(Washington, D.C. Developing microfilm. Library of Congress, image from the Prints and Photographs Division)

Deb Kulczak

Compac (for Compact)

Today is the 20th birthday of the music CD, in a way – on August 17, 1982, the first compact disc was released to the public. It was a classical album of Chopin piano waltzes, manufactured by Polygram Records. The first pop album produced on CD was ABBA’s The Visitors. I didn’t get my first CDs until I was a preteen in the early 1990s: albums by Pink Floyd and the Eagles (courtesy of my classic rock-loving father, who indoctrinated me early). They were so exciting, all shiny and reflecting rainbows, with no pesky tape to get tangled up in ribbons. Now, the world is moving steadily toward digital music, but I can’t give up my CDs. There’s something really special about talking to knowledgeable staff in a music store (they've introduced me to some wonderful jazz artists), opening gorgeous liner art for the first time, and pestering my favourite musicians to sign my CD while I ask them all sorts of foolish questions (I once told Canadian folksinger Sarah Harmer that her hair was “super pretty” – not one of my finest moments). So here’s to the 20th year of CD sales, and hoping there are another 20 to follow. Compac (without the T) is a low probability typo. When searching for it in your catalogue, watch out for legitimate uses of the word, such as the publisher Compac Reader Group, and various organizations and government groups acronymed as COMPAC.

(CD image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)

Leanne Olson

Austala* (for Australa*, Australia*)

Austala* is a moderate probability typo, likely when the cataloguer was attempting to spell Australasia, but forgot the R. Misspelling Australia this way is more difficult – you’d have to lose the I as well. Perhaps if you got hit in the head by a boxing kangaroo, the disorientation might be enough? One of my favourite Looney Tunes episodes starred poor Sylvester the Cat versus the “giant boxing mouse” – actually a kangaroo, imported from Australia. A ‘roo is significantly larger and more vicious than a mouse, and a worthy adversary. I’ve been following the story of an escaped zoo kangaroo in Europe this week, who was wandering through Germany. If you’re adding to your list of life skills, I’ve read up on some tips for defending yourself against a kangaroo attack (from Slate and elsewhere): turn your body sideways, to give a smaller profile and defend your precious internal organs from its claws. Keep your face away to protect it as well. Put a barrier in between you, even a large tree branch if you can find one. Walk away slowly – don’t run, as it will out-hop you, and kick as it goes. Yikes! I think I’ll stick with my usual method of avoiding a kangaroo attack: don’t go near a kangaroo.

(Kangaroo photo by Ester Inbar, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Leanne Olson

Tradegy (for Tragedy)

Say “tragedy” ten times fast and it’s easy to get confused: the G and D begin to sound the same. Once you get used to it, though, the spelling makes sense. Repeating a good tongue twister is an important warmup for an actor performing a Shakespearean tragedy. My personal favourite sneaks up on you: try saying the woman’s name "Peggy Babcock" five times in a row. It took me months to work up to that one, though it doesn’t look as obviously difficult as “The sixth Sheik’s sheep’s dead” – considered one of the most difficult tongue twisters in the English language. Either can help you master the Bard's rapidfire dialogue. I’ve got tragedy on the brain, since this is the anniversary of the death of an historical figure who inspired Shakespeare’s Macbeth: the King of Scotland was killed on August 15th, 1057. He was apparently a very different figure than the play's corrupted, cowardly, and power-hungry general controlled by his wife. Though Macbeth did become king after the death of Duncan I, he killed Duncan (then a young king, known as “Duncan the Diseased” – not that beloved by his people, perhaps) in battle, not in his sleep. Of course, Shakespeare changed many stories for artistic reasons, but that doesn’t give us cataloguers free rein to change spellings willy-nilly. Beware tradegy, a moderate probability typo for tragedy, lest your catalogue be a database constructed by an idiot, full of sound and fury, but fruitless user searches finding nothing.

(Painting of the witches from Macbeth by Johann Heinrich Füssli courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Leanne Olson

Critcs (for Critics)

August 14th, 1915 was the birthdate of Max S. Klein. Klein invented Paint by Number in collaboration with Dan Robbins, a painter who created the initial sets in the 1950s. Paint by Number craft sets consisted of brushes, premixed paints, and a canvas or board that depicted a pre-drawn image split into hundreds of tiny sections numbered with a different color. Fans of the fad selected the correctly-numbered colour and filled in the section, revealing the painting one piece at a time. It involved great attention to detail: if you painted one section the wrong colour, it would mess up the painting – just as a small error in typing the word critics only creates the confusing non-word, critcs. In letters to the periodical American Artist, critics bemoaned the mindless conformity involved and saw Paint by Number as a symbol of the downfall of American culture. Perhaps it was, but as a child in the 80s with zero artistic talent, I simply appreciated that they would let me paint a horse that looked like a horse, instead of an alien creature that resembled a half-dog, half-rat (which is how my original paintings turned out). Fans (or critics) can search the extensive catalogue at the online Paint by Number Museum to see the wide variety of kits made over the years, including a scene from the Grand Canyon, a portrait of President Kennedy, a 9/11 memorial and of course, plenty of horses.

(Image of Paint by Number horse from Paintbynumbermuseum.com)

Leanne Olson

Relaxtion (for Relaxation)

Now that the Olympics are over, there will be less excitement, but perhaps more sleep in my life – no more waking at 4am to catch my favourite events live, and staying up past 11pm to finish the primetime coverage. The more tired I am, the more typos I’m likely to create – it’s easy for my sluggish fingers to miss a letter in relaxation, creating today’s typo, relaxtion. But how to get my circadian rhythm back on track? Ease off the caffeine slowly and close the blinds to ignore sunrise…maybe down some relaxing chamomile tea before bed, or count sheep jumping over a fence. I’ve often wondered why sheep, in particular. The phrase "counting sheep" was used as far back as the mid-19th century, and has remained in popular culture through depiction in cartoons and that Serta mattress commercial, but I know nothing of its origin. It works, though: the fluffy white body of a sheep reminds me of the comfy pillow where my head rests, or the calming sight of white clouds on a lazy summer day as I relax in my hammock. Sleep soon follows.

(Photo of sheep by Eric Jones, from Wikimedia Commons)

Leanne Olson

Admend* (for Amend*)

When the Supreme Court upheld Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, some liberal fans of the First Amendment may have felt that their raison d'etre had now been amended past the point of no return. Admendment is definitely a typo, but leading with an ad like that, it actually seems to reflect the Court's thinking on "corporate speech" more effectively than the conventional spelling would. Perhaps the word free should withdraw from the race as well. Political speech these days seems to be anything but free; in fact, it often looks like only the very rich can afford it. When mean-seeming right-wingers like Rush Limbaugh rule the radio waves, while well-meaning left-leaners like Air America flounder and fail, it's easy enough to assume that all liberals might be in favor of "equal time" regulations or the erstwhile Fairness Doctrine, as well as a Supreme Court that doesn't regard corporations as "people" who are endowed with "rights." However, such an assumption would not be entirely correct. For proof of this, we need to look no further than the fact that free-speech guru Nat Hentoff has argued that the Court's decision on Citizens United was the right one. Also, in the Jan. 31, 2011, edition of The Nation there appeared a piece entitled: "Debating 'Citizens United'" by Floyd Abrams and Burt Neuborne. Abrams, in contrast to Neuborne and the editorial staff of The Nation itself, claims that "the opinion was based on the First Amendment" and that this point "seemed only to add to [the dissenters'] sense of insult. Some dealt with that uncomfortable reality by simply ignoring what the opinion said..." Neuborne counters: "At the rate the Court is going, soon we will be able to be adopted by a corporation. Maybe even marry one. Until then, I'm afraid we'll just have to settle for being f****d by them." This is not an easy case to crack, but intelligent liberals (and conservatives) can clearly disagree. There were 17 cases of Admend* found in OhioLINK today, and 316 in WorldCat.

(Activists of the Ukrainian women's movement FEMEN shout "Hillary, help us!" and "Strong women - strong country" during their topless protest at the Hayatt Hotel in Kiev, where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was staying during a visit, July 2, 2010, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid