Diamoond* (for Diamond*)

My mother has several mixtapes labelled Niel Diamond, because as a kid I could record a mean tape, but couldn’t spell the name Neil worth beans. Oddly, I could handle the correct spelling of today’s typo with no problems. I hope I made it up to my mom this week, when I took her to see Mr. Diamond play in Toronto. At 71, the man can really belt out a tune, and led the revved-up audience through three false endings of Sweet Caroline, gaining energy each time. It’s one of his most iconic songs, sung at karaoke and around campfires, and used by the Boston Red Sox at a different type of diamond, Fenway Park. In 2007, Neil finally revealed the secret behind the song: Sweet Caroline is Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, daughter of John F. Kennedy (apparently I’m on a JFK roll this week, since he appeared in Tuesday’s entry, too). In an interview, Diamond spoke about his inspiration for the song, which came to him after seeing a photograph of Caroline:

"It was a picture of a little girl dressed to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony. It was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there."

Like the songwriter’s talent and the gemstone's sparkle, diamoond is a rare find: it’s one of our lower probability typos, with only three hits in Worldcat.

(Photo of Neil Diamond courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Leanne Olson

Psychopharmoc* (for Psychopharmac*)

I sat down to write today’s post about the anniversary of the patent of the saxophone, when I was hit by a sudden sense of déjà vu. Had the blog addressed this already? Most likely – I began my library career cataloguing music materials, and I know I came across the typo saxaphone rather frequently. So I did a quick search: not only had we blogged about the sax before, but I was even the one to do it. Well, that explains my déjà vu! Normally, though, that disquieting feeling goes unsolved, and it’s eerie enough to have inspired an inverted boomerang roller coaster at Six Flags. Déjà vu might be explained by parapsychology, where the “already seen” feeling is the result of precognition, or in which we remember our past lives. I’m still hoping my past self was a wealthy pirate, and the moments I have of déjà visite (“already visited”) are leading me to buried treasure. Sadly, I’ve never experienced any déjà vu surrounding lottery numbers, so that precognition theory is out. Certain medical aspects can be the culprit as well. The sensation tends to come on before a temporal-lobe seizure, and certain drug interactions can cause déjà vu from a psychopharmacological perspective. Now there’s a word that is giving me no blogging flashbacks: the typo psychopharmocology (for psychopharmacology) is a low probability error, occurring only three times in the OhioLink catalogue.

(Image of the Déjà Vu coaster courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Leanne Olson

Rejuvi* (for Rejuve*)

The summer heat is upon us, and I’ve been thinking about different ways to rejuvenate myself at work. We’ve recently had some power outages at my university, so the air conditioning has been kept at minimal levels. The hotter it gets, the stranger my ideas become: a bag of ice cubes to snack on throughout the day? Kiss librarianship goodbye and go back to working in the campus cafeteria, solely to hide in the walk-in freezer? Perhaps fill a kiddie pool hidden under my desk to keep my feet nice and cool? Now that could be a winner on the rejuvenation front, especially if it were filled with water from the legendary Holy Grail or Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth. If immortality is the quest, I could go looking for the Philosopher’s Stone, an elixir of life said to turn base metals into gold. But will it turn hot humid air into refreshing cold ice? Living forever seems much more desirable on a breezy autumn evening than a hot summer afternoon. As journalist Herb Caen said, “The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever.”

(Ice cube photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Leanne Olson

Kennn* (for Kenn*)

There’s an urban legend that on June 26, 1963, when U.S. President John F. Kennedy said to the people of West Berlin, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” he was actually calling himself a jelly doughnut. Indeed, in Germany, the term Berliner can be used for a delicious jam-filled pastry, but Kennedy’s grammar was no mistake. He’d intended to relate to the 150,000 Berlin people before him and speak out against Communism, declaring that he was proud to be a Berliner, because "all free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin." Normally, “Ich bin Berliner” (no "ein") is how you’d say “I am a citizen of Berlin,” which is what caused the confusion. But in actuality, near as I can tell (German speakers, care to correct me?) adding the indefinite article “ein” is perfectly appropriate when speaking figuratively, as Kennedy was, since he did not actually hail from Berlin. Subtlety can be important when choosing your words and spellings. Adding an extra N to Kennedy is a low probability typo – most of us are careful with this one. Similarly, my choice of the spelling doughnut over donut, though both are used in Canada, is also intentional – doughnut just looks so much more substantial, making my mouth water in anticipation of the dough and icing (or is it frosting? I’ll take either, thanks!).

(Berliner photo from Internationalrecipes.net)

Leanne Olson

Principls (for Principals, Principles)

When I was in grade school, one of the mnemonic devices we used to remember the difference between principal and principle was “Principal Smith puts the PAL in PrinciPAL.”  Our principal really was a pal, knowing every student by name and always putting the principles of fairness and kindness first, so it was an easy mnemonic for us students to retain.  If your principal were more like bullying educators such as Principal Vernon from The Breakfast Club, it might be harder to think of him (or her) as a pal.  I suppose using “principl” eliminates the need to decide between an A or E at all, but let’s all try to stick with our principles of clear writing and avoid typos when we can. Make your grade school principal proud!


(Photo of Paul Gleason as Principal Vernon from People.com)


Leanne Olson

Devision* (for Division*)

The great thing about a vision is that it can be of practically anything. I happen to like ducks, so this pic called "My Duck Vision" appeals to me as both a straightforward photographic image as well as a total mystery regarding what the "duck" it's supposed to mean. I was reading something recently about the American Black Duck, a somewhat endangered species indigenous to the nearby Adirondack Mountains and closely related to the Mallard. And I suspect if this feathered, ebony-locked athlete, who looks like he's about to take part in some sort of division playoffs, were in fact a duck, that's probably just the sort he would be. The Black Duck is "extremely wary and fast on the wing," rather like I imagine this guy is on the tennis or some other court of public opinion. But despite what anyone says about him, I'll bet it all rolls off his back, or the back of his head anyway, like water off a duck. We scored 19 cases of Devision* in OhioLINK this morning, and 679 in WorldCat.

(My-duck-vision, 2 August 2011, by Ppmarat, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Intruct* (for Instruct*)

According to most schools of modern feminism, girls should be be allowed to play with both dolls and trucks (as the usual dichotomy would have it), but gently steered in the direction of trucks. The reasoning is that little girls are unfortunately steeped in traditional gender expectations from Day One and therefore might need a little guidance when it comes to diversifying. (Same thing with boys, but their particular brand of political incorrectness sometimes seems like a harder nut to crack.) Lately the long-liberated Swedes have really been taking this to heart, as well as to a somewhat alarming extreme, stolidly instructing their kids in "gender-neutral" ways. According to a recent story on Slate, Sweden has officially adopted a new pronoun known as hen (an alternative to han or hon, for use with either sex) and has just witnessed their first genderless children's book. Unisex names for Swedish babies are also flourishing these days, and stereotype-busting ads are now appearing in the service of children's games and toys. "Good morning, buddies" has replaced the outmoded "Good morning, boys and girls" in many classrooms; unconventional living arrangements are being encouraged in the playing of House; and toy cars have been removed from some schools because boys rated them more highly than other playthings. You get the rather stultifying, if instructive, idea. We discovered 40 cases of Intruct* in OhioLINK today, and 880 in WorldCat.

(Girl on front doorstep carrying a toy 'Life Savers' truck from The Powerhouse Museum, circa 1930-1950, courtesy of the Tom Lennon Collection and Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid