TYPOS - THE DEVIL IN THE DETALE
I have a knack for spotting other people's errors and faux pas. Unfortunately, I am not nearly as sharp when it comes to recognizing my own, despite having earned a reputation as a nitpicker and fault-finder. This trait has won me more than a few enemies, although my intentions are good - I simply wish to help. What I have noticed, however, is that those at the receiving end of my corrections rarely admit to mistakes. Instead, they hide behind the convenient excuse of a "typo." My Random House Webster's Dictionary defines a typographical error as "an error in printed or typewritten matter resulting from striking the improper key of a keyboard, from mechanical failure, or the like." Yet somehow, when someone writes that Napoleon was born in France instead of Corsica, it’s waved off as a "typo." If a writer uses then for than , it was clearly a typo. Their for there ? Again, a typo. It seems typo now covers everything from slip-ups to sheer ...