Instanbul, etc. (for Istanbul)

"It's Istanbul, not Constantinople..." sang the Four Lads, a Canadian pop band that had an instant hit with this song in 1953. We might also chime in here that it's Istanbul, not Instanbul, as recorded on 12 records in OhioLINK (two with the qualifier "sic"). There were also 12 instances of Istambul and two of Istabul. "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" was covered more recently by the alt-rock group They Might Be Giants. The Four Lads knew a thing or two about name changes, having originally been known as The Otnorots ("Toronto" spelled backwards). The song goes on to say: "Even old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it I can't say. People just liked it better that way..." The New York State Library catalog contained a single typo for Istambul. (Photo of the Four Lads from Jerry Mason's An American Pioneer Gypsy website.)

Carol Reid

Sate (for State)

My great-aunt Hilda, who was a stickler for proper syntax and baker of sinfully sweet treats, was prone to state upon completion of a meal: "I'm replete." It was almost as if she were daring us kids to try "I'm full" or, even worse, "I'm stuffed!" instead. A search on State + Sate brings up 23 records in OhioLINK, proving that even when you think you're all done, there are often a few more plates to be cleaned. (Just (too many) desserts from Wikimedia Commons.)

By the way, the expression is "just deserts," not, as commonly supposed, "just desserts," and if there are grammar and cookies in Heaven, I'm sure my relative is getting hers there.

Carol Reid

Sourse* (for Source*)

Somebody's been monkeying around here, making today's typo a real lemon. There are 13 hits in OhioLINK for Sourse*, including one "sic" and a few with an apparently variant spelling from earlier times. It's souring my mood just contemplating the idea that there might be catalogers who can't spell the word source, but rather than assume they got soused on whiskey sours at lunch, I'll just point out that, despite our opposable thumbs, it's easier to slide from the R to the S key than it is to reach down for the C. Anyway, that's the best I can come up with right now, but as the saying goes, if life hands you a lemon, make lemonade. And don't forget to check your source. (Painting by Gabriel Cornelius Ritter von Max, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Reocrd* (for Record, etc.)

The REO Motor Car Company and its founder and namesake Ransom Eli Olds richly deserve their street cred. (The latter's name was also immortalized in the General Motors Oldsmobile.) The company vacillated between spelling it REO and Reo, but went on record with it as an acronym ("Rio"), not an initialism as the rock band REO Speedwagon did. I've often referred to typos as speed bumps while reading (though perhaps potholes is a better metaphor) and currently there are 28 records in OhioLINK that could be retrieved with a little more speed if they didn't include this one. (Pictured here is the REO Speed Wagon Fire Truck at the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Phsy* and Pshy* (for Phys* and Psych*)

The physical and the psychological have often been treated as opposites, and the way each of these types of words is spelled tends to spell trouble for the other. A search in OhioLINK for Phsy* reveals 32 typos for a range of words including physical, psychoanalytic, physician, physiology, psychotherapy, psychology, and physics. Reversing the second and third letters (Pshy*) returns seven results. While some practitioners in these fields (physicians, physicists, psychiatrists) need to have advanced degrees like Ph.D.'s, others barely rise to the level of pseudoscience (psychics, physiognomists, certain psychologists). None of which has anything to do with the order of the first three letters, actually, but that very variability makes mixing up their spellings a little easier to do. If you're feeling a little mixed up right now, before you start thinking about seeing a witch doctor or which doctor to start seeing, simply slow down and sound things out. Pshaw, it's not as bad as it looks. (Burlington-based jam band Phish, from the Ickmusic website.)

Carol Reid

Fuschia, etc. (for Fuchsia)

I once heard fuchsia called the hardest word to spell in the entire English language. And I'm more or less willing to grant it that dubious distinction, provided the field is narrowed to words we've actually heard of before—as opposed to those obscure behemoths put in the mouths of babes at the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. With only 71 instances spelled correctly in OhioLINK, we face a fusillade of snafus for it as well: one hit each for Fushia and Fucsia, two apiece for Fuscia and Fushcia, and 11 for Fuschia, amounting to a ratio of less than 4:1. Often compared to magenta, cerise, and fandango, fuchsia has long been an honored hue, if not on the red carpet, then on the silver screen. (The color is also known as "Hollywood cerise.") Perhaps my favorite description of something really red lies in the old tune "Liza up in the 'Simmon Tree" by Bradley Kincaid: "Cheeks are like the cherries, cherries like a rose..." In gay circles, a "fuchsia queen" is a beautiful woman and, according to the "handkerchief code," the shade means that the brandisher has a spanking fetish. But before I blush fuchsia, I'm going to have to bring this blog entry to an end. (Fuchsia photo from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

Postscript: A friend informs me that fuchsia is named after the 16th-century German botanist Leonhart Fuchs, which is both fun to know and a useful mnemonic. (Or, as another friend put it, "Thanks for clearing up the confuchsian.")

Wildife, etc. (for Wildlife)

In honor of Earth Day, today we have a bit of a case of gulls gone wild. OhioLINK turns up 13 examples of Wildife, five of Wiildlife, four of Wildlfe, three of Widllife, and two of Widlife. In Finding Nemo, Nigel the pelican dismisses seagulls as "rats with wings," but others have been far more admiring. Anton Chekhov wrote a play called The Seagull in which the eponymous bird is symbolic of our broken dreams. They were my nature-loving grandmother's favorites. And in the movie Harold and Maude, she points to them and tells him: "Dreyfus once wrote from Devil's Island that he would see the most glorious birds. Many years later in Brittany he realized they had only been sea gulls... For me they will always be glorious birds." (Picture of careening seagulls by "Angie" from Japan, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid