Tuesday, March 3, 2009

I may be more than slightly neurotic.

To me, typos in books and other professionally printed pieces are like a steering wheel on a hermaphroditic *pixie* pirate's crotch.

It drives me nuts.

14 comments:

Lora said...

it kills me too. i get angry at the editor.
and i really hate it when i think that I'M the one who maybe just doesn't know the rule, even when i know i do.
but that is definitely wrong.

Holly {ArtistMotherTeacher} said...

Lora—What really gets me, is it's spelled right on the sign above.

Anonymous said...

I always notice typos when reading. Just last week, in fact.

Anonymous said...

My husband has written in a few of our children's books to correct incorrect adverb use.

Lisa said...

I've been noticing typos in more books, too! I wonder if it's just they are rushing them through production, or that the publishing companies and authors are just getting dumber? Hmm. One thing I have seen in more than one book now is repeated words. Like, "she sat down on the the couch." Spellcheck's never gonna catch that.

I should talk. Some of the mistakes I've made over the years have been hilariously bad.

Anonymous said...

Yesterday our local newspaper wrote a piece about me and in the title which should have said communications coordinator said communications coodinator. So right now I'm "The Coodinator". Fantastic.

Kym said...

Ugh...that is so annoying! I spell words wrong all the time with my typing, but it drives me crazy to read it in professional writing! I am sure I would be a great editor b/c I always find tons of things wrong in books that I read.

Fantastagirl said...

On my blog, my grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. is awful. I know this, and I don't care. Why?

Because I spend my days proofing letter, and brochures, and I don't want to "think" when I get home, so I don't. Sorry...

But in a BOOK? Guess this just proves that they need a person to proof-read, before publishing. Spell check can't get it all.

Fantastagirl said...

aww man, guess I should have proofed my comment before I hit submit. Should be letters.... and

ah crap, just ignore that comment.

Naynayfazz said...

I have noticed typos as well but not in any books. Sometimes in magazines or just in every day life. I think it is funny. Silly editors......

Cupcake Blonde said...

This drives me crazy too! because then i think, hey, I could do a better job editing this than you. I usually end up circling the typos and then writing the publisher and letting them know of the errors and exactly where they are so they can be fixed for later editions. The sad part is I actually sometimes check to see if they have been fixed. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm the same way - typos in professional books just speak very poorly of the editorial staff of the publisher.

Lynda said...

Me too. Calem has a book that I just want to take a sharpie to and fix the offending word.

dianaschnuth said...

Just found your blog today (via wefollow.com) and am going to hit the subscribe button after I finish posting this comment. :-)

So, first, I saw the Fred and Ted book, and remembered how much I LOVED that book as a little kid. It was one of my absolute favorites. I think I had it memorized at one point. Fred and Ted are friends!

Then I saw the typo you mentioned... and something started to tickle in the back of my brain... and I remembered finding that typo at age whatever (four? five?) and pointing it out to my Mom. That may have been the first typo I ever found. Now, decades later, I'm the person who finds all the typos. Everywhere. It annoys the crap out of my husband. :-)