LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

  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 ...

It has accurred to me that you might think I am petty and that I focus on language trivia when I point out the errors, typos, or faux pas of writers of prestige. But I have a grudge, an ax to grind, against the English-speaking intelligetnsia. They are uppity, stubborn, ivory-towered and believe themselves to be tops... but they are not. Most hold on to the stupid assumption that being a native is enough. I like Dr. Irvin Yalom ´s The Schopenhauer Cure . He knows how to spin a good yarn. He has good dictionaries of synonyms which he uses constantly. He enthralls me with his pedantry. In short: I like him. But why on earth would he write "Schopenhauer said that a highly attractive women..."? In his Acknowledgments he mentions many people who read the trypescript of his novel and offered suggestions, corrections and the like. But nobody read this line: "Schopenhauer said that a highly attractive women..."? The Publisher, HarperCollins, probably has no proofr...