Comments on: Typograpical Erors

By: Frank Sennett

Frank Sennett — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

You forgot to embed a rimshot at the end of the post…

By: Keir

Keir — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Try the veal! Don’t forget to tip your waitress! I’ll be here all week!

By: Jeffrey Beall

Jeffrey Beall — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Nice article. I think the errors you describe (hoot for boot, and dance for glance) may be OCR (i.e. optical character recognition) errors. To the computer the “h” looks like the “b” sometimes, and because spell-check won’t mark hoot as an error, the computer accepts the rendering. So these may not be typos but OCR errors.

By: Joel Reese

Joel Reese — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, though, those errors can really affect your perception of someone’s writing. I once read a short story that spelled Foghat-the influential band who graced us with “Slow Ride,” as if you needed reminding-with two T’s. Completely took me out of the story.

By: Janet

Janet — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Even worse are the typos in published books! It appears that copy editing has been outsourced to spellcheck. I’m amazed at what gets into print these days.

By: Keir

Keir — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Jeffrey, I think you’re probably right-many of the errors I found were repeated the same way every time. (That’s not usually the case with other galleys.) But it seems unusual that they would scan a manuscript. Maybe the translator uses a typewriter….

By: Frank Sennett

Frank Sennett — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Joel, I guess you’ve never heard of Foghatt. They’re the influential band that graced us with “Sloe Ryde,” not to mention “Fuel 4 tha Sitte”…

By: Jeffrey DiScala

Jeffrey DiScala — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Very interesting entry. I didn’t realize galleys were sent out far enough in advance for there to be such an unfinished copy. I have to agree with Joel that those errors you do see completely remove you from the experience while reading. It’s a break in that alternative reality you prepare yourself to sink into (one hopes) every time you pick up a book.

By: Helen P. Mack

Helen P. Mack — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

I echo the comment about typos that make it all the way into the finished product. I have recently encountered two books (one published by Elsevier, one by Erlbaum) that were each accompanied by two pages of errata. Given the fact that people generally don’t even consult the errata pages, readers are receiving inaccurate information without knowing it. It seems that there is no editorial review of the manuscripts, and, more often than not, no plans to issue corrected reprints. At my institution, such books are either returned or discarded, depending on price. Either way this is a huge waste – waste of authors’ time, waste of publisher’s salaries for editors, waste of libraries’ staff time and money!