The typo: every writer’s least favorite but occasionally giggle-inducing error. Someday, I will write a book about typos. I realize that there are already books about typos out there, but I believe I may have something unique to add to the global collection of “Did I say that?” moments. I know I harp on about this, but the best day to spot a typo you made today is tomorrow, or the next day, or even the day after that. And no, I’m not referring to the typos that Microsoft Word or even Grammarly notices.

Grammarly’s not too bad at homonyms like “there” and “their” which Microsoft misses and which, to my horror, I occasionally still am guilty of when in a hurry. But don’t even begin to imagine that it will pick up all errors. It won’t. It can’t. It is a piece of software. It’s quite clever for software, but not nearly as good as the human brain – provided that the brain in question is firing on all cylinders.

Add your typo in comments; I’ll add them to my work

My previous post on typos was rather obscure, at least in terms of the number of times it was read, but one kind blogger commented, adding a typo she thought I ought to know about. It was a simple omission of a letter: “bog” instead of “blog”, and I’ll confess to having a good giggle at the expense of whoever was guilty of that one, until….

Lo and behold, there it was, and it wasn’t just in the body text. Oh no, that wasn’t spectacular enough for me! Instead, it was right there in the H2 headers. It’s as if making a silly mistake wasn’t good enough for me. Instead, I had to make it as in your face as possible. Smart move, Andrea. Your fallibility is impressive! Fortunately, I did that to my own blog, and not a client’s.

A plague you never knew about

From time to time, I help others by giving their work an edit. Quite often, I don’t even charge for it. Freelance writers have to stick together, right? Anyway, I was reading a post about oral hygiene for a friend of mine who is rather new to writing about dentistry, and discovered that he thought our teeth get infested with “plague”.

Fortunately for dentists, plague is not among the occupational hazards they face. My dentist says getting his fingers bitten is the number one hazard in his book. It’s still not fun, but at least it isn’t a dread disease that’s capable of wiping out millions of people. I was feeling quite pleased with myself, and rather clever into the bargain, when I prevented myself from erring dreadfully by the teeniest hair’s breadth.

The public is to blame

I was happily giving an item for a client a final look-through before firing it off, when lo and behold, there was the typo that formed a central part of my last “bog” on typos. I refer to yet another omission of letter error, and if you’re guessing that “public attention” almost became a whole lot more intimate than usual, you’ve hit the nail on the head. However, all’s well that ends well, and my client was spared the dubious “pubicity” that goes with “pubic” adulation. It was a close call, though!

Bt nw I’m ficially on hlidy

Well, “officially”, I am. In reality, I have a heap of editing and a whole bunch of articles to write. In fact, it’s quite a lot like not being on holiday at all! However, despite the two clients who had brainwaves as to how to keep me busy on Christmas Eve (they obviously have difficulty switching off from work too), it really is my own fault that I’m not on the beach right now disporting myself in the waves. Next time lucky! I will now pubish this post without checking cuz it’s my hliday.