Oof.. I hate other people’s typos. I want to fix them all.
Whenever I read anything, I can’t help but notice misspelled words. It’s a blessing, and a curse. Most of the time, typos don’t really matter. I still want to fix them, though. I always wish I could do something about them.
When I read textbooks, I always find typos. But what can I do about it? Nothing, as far as I know. It’s already printed.
If it’s something substantial, like a piece of code from a programming book that will not compile, I could probably find a way to submit it to the author(s)/publisher/etc., so they can add it to their “errata” (corrections) web page for the book.
Some publishers make this easy. For instance, when viewing book information on wrox’s website, there is a link to view errata, and from that page, there is a link to submit errors that you’ve found.
Still, I don’t think I’d submit something like one instance of using the improper form of its/it’s, or to/too/two, or there/their. It’s just not that important to most people, so I would not expect such a thing to get published on an errata page. Nobody’s going to have an easier time reading the book, just because a web page, somewhere, has a spelling correction. But it irks me.
When I receive emails from companies, advertising their products/services, and I see spelling errors, I want to tell the company. But I don’t, because the email has already been sent to hundreds/thousands of people, and they are not going to send out another one to everyone because of a typo. Most people would not want to receive a second email with one or two letters changed. I don’t even think I would. But I still wish I could fix it.
When I read a local newspaper, and find that they have duplicated 3 paragraphs in the middle of an article, or find typos, or find the wrong ‘Continued on page …’, I want to fix it. But, again, I can’t. It’s already been printed, it doesn’t significantly change the meaning of the article, etc. If I saw a materially relevant statement that was obviously a mistake, and it makes the paper look bad, I might look for a way to contact them. Often they have email addresses listed, either in the article header/footer, or on one master contact list on another page. But I never find this type of thing. I find typos.
I actually did report an insignificant typo one time last year. There’s a sign in one of the kitchens, at work, regarding Workers’ Compensation. This particular sign, though, is in Spanish. Still, while waiting for coffee to be made, or my food to cook, etc., I’ve read this sign numerous times. One typo jumps out at me every time, now, and I want to fix it. So I actually found a newer version of this notice on the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission website, looked up who is responsible for handling Workers’ Compensation claims at my company, and emailed them about it. Here’s the text of the email:
Subject: note regarding NOTICIA SOBRE COMPENSACIÓN LABORAL
Hello,
I’m not sure if this has been pointed out before, because it’s insignificant and not in English, but it irks me to see typos on publicly posted materials. Having been a programmer for pretty much my whole life, my brain is kind of wired for finding nit-picky bugs in source code, and that ends up spilling over into other aspects of life as well.
Anyway, in one of the kitchens on my floor, here in Chantilly, the English version is posted, and in the other kitchen, the Spanish version. The Spanish version has a typo near the top, in bold letters on the left side.
It says:
EL EMLEADO DEBE:But it should say:
EL EMPLEADO DEBE:Yes, that’s really all I’m emailing to say. Whether anybody does anything about it or not, at least I can feel better having pointed it out. I see this kind of thing all the time, but usually don’t bother to report them. I’m not sure whether those signs are printed from a form in a central company location, but I see that the latest version on the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission website has that typo fixed:
http://www.vwc.state.va.us/forms/form%201%20spanish.pdfThanks for your time,
It’s been 5 months. The same sign is still up, and I never heard back from that person. I don’t blame them, though. It’s insignificant, and nobody cares about it but me. I tried to fix it, through.
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February 1st, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Just print out a “P” and put it on the sign. Problem-Reaction-Solution! :)
March 25th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Hmm. Very interesting. I actually feel the same as you do (in some ways) about typos, but I suspect that they tend to make me _angrier_ than they do you. One typo, however, that didn’t make me angry, but instead gave me a little smile, believe it or not, was one of your very own! (And it happened to be the ONLY typo I noticed in your post, in fact… congratulations!) I’m referring to the very last word of your post: “through”. Perhaps you were merely announcing that the article had come to an end, but I didn’t think so. I suspect you meant “though”… was I right? And if so, was it intentional? I thought it was a real, live, honest-to-goodness typo, simple as that. (But I still wanted to find out!) Thanks for the post!
March 26th, 2007 at 6:24 am
Rebecca:
I hope you’re not too angry about it, but you’re absolutely right — that was a typo! I did mean “though”. Thanks for pointing it out!
The next question is: Do I leave it as-is, so your comment makes sense (and for irony’s sake), or edit the original post?
March 27th, 2007 at 9:07 am
[…] As a picky reader, I also can’t help but spot typos in other people’s writing (but not in my own, apparently!), broken English (like instructions written by people for whom English is clearly not their primary […]
October 27th, 2007 at 12:33 am
[…] As a picky reader, I also can’t help but spot typos in other people’s writing (but not in my own, apparently!), broken English (like instructions written by people for whom English is clearly not their primary […]
June 25th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Here it is over a year later, and I finally noticed you’d replied to my comment! So it’s a little late, but since no one else replied… I say “leave it as it is!”
And it looks like that’s just what you did, too!
So have you noticed things getting any better or have typos proliferated to the point of almost the majority now?