I generally despise typos. I certainly contribute my share to the global supply, but I don't like typos anyway. Especially when they make it into print.
But some select few typos make me laugh out loud — partly because we catch them while editing. Like the one from the Statesman letter writer describing then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wearing "high hells." Or the writer warning against the "potentially deadline" West Nile virus.
I've come to count on our letter writers to engage in free-wheeling debate on issues large and small. But sometimes, in the rush to have a point of view, a mistake sneaks in that is even beyond the reach of spellcheck.
Here are a few of my all-time favorites. (No names, of course. We typo-writers have to stick together.)
• In the heat of the 2008 GOP primaries, one reader proudly declared his support of a true "physical conservative." As opposed, of course, to one of those tax-and-sweat liberals.
• Same primary, different letter — and high praise for public servants who give "their heart and sole" to the community. I admire shoe-leather politics.
• During the 2008 fall elections, another writer praised the candidate of her choice for keeping "composer" during the campaign. Stravinsky, perhaps? Or Mozart?
• One letter writer cautioned that our nation faces an invasion of "illeagle" aliens. The topic of the letter was immigration, not Avian flu.
• The public-vs.-pubic typo has taken on a life of its own. One particularly angry voter pushed the envelope by criticizing an "egotestical pubic servant." I detect a pattern here.
• I guess this one also appeals to my juvenile side: the letter writer warning of "creative circumcision" of the Idaho constitution. That has to hurt.
• We've heard plenty of hand-wringing about the coarsening of the political discourse. But I didn't realize how desperate it had become, until a letter writer pointed out that sometimes protesters are merely exercising their "Second Amendment rights." Now that's a protest.
• Yes, the debate can get ugly, and no one side is to blame. And it wouldn't be fair to ascribe the entire problem to a fellow mentioned in one letter: "right-wing Roderick."
• Nothing riles letter writers quite like taxes. Like the writer who accused our editorial board of advancing a "steel-from-the-rich" agenda. I thought our board had maintained a steely silence on that issue.
• Then there was the writer who talked about the need to get down to "brass tax." A surcharge on trombones? French horns?
• One civic-minded reader, angered by the sight of an idling fire truck, had plenty to say about "wreckless spending." Well, yeah, but it's hard to wreck while idling.
• We get plenty of letters on the salmon debate, but only one that attributed some of the salmon's woes to "see predators." See no evil, I guess, if you're a salmon.
• A profile of a local cycling enthusiast sparked a letter from a reader reminiscing about seeing the cyclist training at a health club and "peddling like crazy." Sounds like work on commission.
• In the category, "Best Evidence of the Pervasive Power of Pharmaceutical Ads," we have a tie between the writer who referred to "pre-medicated murder," and the Statesman reader threatening to cancel his newspaper "prescription."
• And lastly, a pre-Christmas special. A couple of years back, we wrote an editorial about the then-heated debate over canned hunting in Idaho — which occurs, as one letter writer put it, on "elf farms."
And you thought elves came from the North Pole. ...
Barring big news today, this will be my last pre-vacation blog post. Enjoy, and happy holidays!
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What a laugh! I love this kind of comity...
A fun read while having harmony grits for breakfast.
This was actually one of your better posts ...
... it was good to see some light humor and to remind ourselves that we do need to laugh at ourselves. Thanks. /Jono (I did run spellcheck)!
mistaken letters
It isn't a typo, but my favorite mistake in a letter to the editor occured a few years back when a letter writer in the Statesman wrote against a levy where the money was goig to go to buy and protect land in the foothills. He was against the levy because he was sure a levy in the foothills would break and homes in Boise would be flooded.
That's a good one ...
... and, with apologies to Don McLean, it's a cautionary tale about what happens when one drives a Chevy to the levy. ...
Kevin Richert
editorial page editor
Daylight savings is killing my lawn!
A claim made by a letter writer soon after DLS was introduced in Idaho. She then went on to explain how DLS is a financial burden on people with fixed incomes who can't afford increased water bills.
Of course, after reading some of the claims made in Copenhagen this week, I think this woman could be of service on a UN climate panel.
What the hell IS the time anyhow?
Forget the cows, I'M tired of it.
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Like a midair collision with a tugboat
If you carry a gun on Amtrak you will be put in a box...
Comedy is tragedy.
Amtrak is a few rolling boxes anyway.
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Like a midair collision with a tugboat
You mean you actually edit articles before they go into print?
Could have fooled most of us who day after day harp about the errors that routinely appear in the Statesman - everything from poorly written and misleading headlines to spelling and grammatical mistakes. The fact that in this blog you brush off obvious spelling errors by calling them typos is not an encouraging sign for those of us who look forward to an improved Statesman. Maybe you were just being kind?
Yes, everyone makes mistakes, and some mistakes are laughable. Jay Leno puts mistakes found in newspaper headlines to good use in his monologue. One rule of thumb for editing is never trust the author or typist to proofread his/her work, because the eyes are inclined to see what the mind intended to write rather than the wrongly spelled word (there, their, they're) or a genuine typo caused by sticky fingers hitting the wrong keys. Isn't that why print media employ copy editors to go over every word and sentence with a fine tooth comb?
It would be nice if the Statesman's comment boards had an editing feature the same as its blog pages do. Not that the comments themselves are masterpieces, but they do get archived, and some of us cringe when we see inadvertent errors in our remarks. Note the number of people who post a correction even for obvious typos. We seem to care more than the people who get paid to write for the Statesman, as reporters' mistakes rarely get corrected even after several commenters call them to the Statesman's attention. There have even been days when a spelling or grammatical error was so funny (or so appalling) that the error became the primary topic of conversation instead of the article. I always think about such instances when the Statesman editorializes about the quality of education in Idaho and pleads for more money for our schools. Is that the problem, that staff writers don't get paid enough to think, write, and proofread?
Allow me to end this on a positive note. Tim Woodward deserves a raise for rarely making mistakes. Off hand I can't recall any, but I don't want to jinx his Sunday columns, so let's assume a few have slipped by him over the years. Meanwhile his voice is more clear and his writing continues to get better and better.
ditto
When 'professional' writers continually make mistakes it breeds complacency in the rest of readers (the readers). That's how slang creaps into our language- ain't that true?
Kind of like when professional athletes throw a tantrum on the field/court... then when a high school athlete does it, is it any surprise?
You needed a lot of extraneous words and the title was fine.
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Like a midair collision with a tugboat
KR wrote "spellcheck"
KR, my spell checker makes it two words- spell check.
You are almost as bad as Rocky.
Mary Christmas!
:-D
typos smypos
Hey I thought Boise was in an economic recession then I read boiseguardian's post about the MaYor's staff and salaries.
Did you know Boise has TWO Assistants to the Mayor for Economic Development?
And they are EACH paid $77,256.00 per year.
With 2 people in charge of the city's economic development and getting pretty well, maybe the city budget could be improved by first cutting the waste of employees not doing their job- or job titles that are simply unnecessary.
Let's remember there is a monster called Capital City Development Corporation, funded by city and county tax dollars, there is the Downtown Boise Association, the Boise Chamber of Commerce, The Boise Valley Economic Partnership (Boise Metro funding), and more I'm forgetting.
*****
BTW, Jade Riley, the Administrative ASSISTANT to the Mayor actually gets paid MORE than the mayor-Riley gets $92,700.
I can name a whole lotta secretaries who are not paid more than their boss.
That's why it's Udapimp in Idaho.
****
http://boiseguardian.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/CurrentSalaries_MayorsOffice_12_20091.pdf
Typos? Nonsense!
The sad thing is that many of these "typos" are actually just proof of how ignorant so many people are today. It's the constant dumbing down of the U.S.
yo, yo, your so dumb you can't catch a brother with a bomb
in his his pants. anda I bought my wife a pressure cooker and now Im eating spaghatti off the ceiling. Happy New YEAR!
You have no acid!
Where are the Kaleshnikovs?
Iraq says, Happy Boom Year, for pete's sake.
If you can't come up with garbage of SUBSTANCE go back to school.
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Like a midair collision with a tugboat