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Just My Typo: From "Sinning with the Choir" to "the Untied States"
"To err is human. To laugh when other people err is even more human. And Drummond Moir will make you feel very human when you read this book. Because you'll be laughing is what I'm saying. A lot." -- A. J. Jacobs, author of Drop Dead Healthy
A charming collection of typographical errors, slips of the pen, and embarrassing misprints, Just My Typo celebrates the awful and the sublime mistakes that riddle our feeble human attempts at communication.
"ILLEGALLY PARKED CARS WILL BE FINE." --Anonymous sign
"THOU SHALT COMMIT ADULTERY." --1631 edition of the Bible
"I AM CERTAIN OF ONE THING. WHATEVER MAY COME BETWEEN US--AND WHEREVER HE MAY BE ON EARTH--ARTHUR WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT I LOVE HAM." --The Parting, Millicent Hemming
A charming collection of typographical errors, slips of the pen, and embarrassing misprints, Just My Typo celebrates the awful and the sublime mistakes that riddle our feeble human attempts at communication.
"ILLEGALLY PARKED CARS WILL BE FINE." --Anonymous sign
"THOU SHALT COMMIT ADULTERY." --1631 edition of the Bible
"I AM CERTAIN OF ONE THING. WHATEVER MAY COME BETWEEN US--AND WHEREVER HE MAY BE ON EARTH--ARTHUR WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT I LOVE HAM." --The Parting, Millicent Hemming
181 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2012
12 people are currently reading
649 people want to read
About the author
Drummond Moir
1 book20 followersI was born, raised and educated in Edinburgh, Scotland, spent a year travelling and teaching music at a school in New Zealand, then went to Oxford University to study for a BA in English language & literature. During these three years I read lots of book, played lots of guitar as part of a folk trio, and performed regular comedy shows – I was president and director of the Oxford Revue (the sketch comedy group founded by Michael Palin in the 1950s which went on to foster talents such as Python’s Terry Jones, Alan Bennett, Dudley Moore, Armando Iannucci and Ian Hislop), and was also a founding member of the Oxford Imps, an improvised comedy group. After graduating in 2005 I was awarded a scholarship to study Japanese language & history at Daichi Keizai (literally ‘number one economics’) university in Fukuoka, Japan. I returned to the UK a year later and moved to London to pursue a career in publishing. I worked across three different imprints of Random House over the course of five years, editing and publishing authors such as V.S Ramachandran, John Barrow, A. J. Jacobs and Yasmina Khadra. I then moved to Sceptre to become Editorial Director in August 2011, where I currently acquire, edit and publish literary fiction and non-fiction, including Ned Beauman, Kevin Powers and Rolf Dobelli. Sceptre also published my first book, a collection of humorous typos, in October 2012, which was chosen by the Guardian as one of their books of the year. A revised, updated American edition will be published in July 2014 by Three Rivers Press.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
June 18, 2014
My super-power is editing. (Other people's work of course; it's impossible to edit your own.) I can spot a typo from a mile away, without even trying. So this little book excited me... and in some ways, it did not disappoint, but in most others... well...
The good:
~ Various typos that I hadn't heard/read about before.
~ Some highly amusing typos.
~ Some laughs.
~ An attempt at being different.
The bad:
~ I found the construction of the book somewhat puzzling. Why have 'interludes' between each chapter? It's almost like they were ones the author and/or editor wanted to include, but couldn't fit anywhere, so they created 'interludes' that had nothing to do with the chapter before or after.
~ Some of the errors were... hard to figure out. The editor expected you to know some things, like the title of Dickens' novel.
~ Why have a chapter on "the future of the typo" - autocorrect fails in text communication - when a) most of them have been seen/read before, especially if you ever once been on Facebook, and b) why the middle of the book? Including those just seemed like a way to add more pages to the book.
~ "My favorite typo" sections... not all of them were great. Also, when I read the first one, since the editor didn't tell us he was including any, I thought it was one of his. Which made zero sense, as clearly the book would be all typos he enjoyed. He should have included a bit about that in his Introduction.
~ Most of the typos included have been found elsewhere, including the "kids' typos" section.
Overall, an interesting effort, but it just fell... flat.
The good:
~ Various typos that I hadn't heard/read about before.
~ Some highly amusing typos.
~ Some laughs.
~ An attempt at being different.
The bad:
~ I found the construction of the book somewhat puzzling. Why have 'interludes' between each chapter? It's almost like they were ones the author and/or editor wanted to include, but couldn't fit anywhere, so they created 'interludes' that had nothing to do with the chapter before or after.
~ Some of the errors were... hard to figure out. The editor expected you to know some things, like the title of Dickens' novel.
~ Why have a chapter on "the future of the typo" - autocorrect fails in text communication - when a) most of them have been seen/read before, especially if you ever once been on Facebook, and b) why the middle of the book? Including those just seemed like a way to add more pages to the book.
~ "My favorite typo" sections... not all of them were great. Also, when I read the first one, since the editor didn't tell us he was including any, I thought it was one of his. Which made zero sense, as clearly the book would be all typos he enjoyed. He should have included a bit about that in his Introduction.
~ Most of the typos included have been found elsewhere, including the "kids' typos" section.
Overall, an interesting effort, but it just fell... flat.
August 10, 2014
As someone afflicted with "fat finger syndrome" while texting and “oh, shit” moments immediately after sending an email, the irony of winning Just My Typo in a Goodreads giveaway was not lost to me.
Composed of a variety of documented typos ranging from advertising to political, this short book had me chuckling throughout. You’ve probably already seen many of these online, particularly the auto-correct section and the international translation blunders, so it’s not exactly groundbreaking material. Still, I was fairly amused.
This would make an appropriate gift for the grammar Nazi in your life.
Composed of a variety of documented typos ranging from advertising to political, this short book had me chuckling throughout. You’ve probably already seen many of these online, particularly the auto-correct section and the international translation blunders, so it’s not exactly groundbreaking material. Still, I was fairly amused.
This would make an appropriate gift for the grammar Nazi in your life.
August 1, 2014
*I received this book through First Reads*
All hail the mighty typo! This is a fun read. I found myself laughing rather loudly several times as I wandered through these mistakes. It's refreshing to know that what typos I have made in my life do not compare to what some of these authors, typesetters and journalists have produced. It's also sad to know that none of my typos have produced the laughs that these writers have. When Drummond Moir compiled these typos he made sure to include a wide range of typos, even squeezing in some goofy autocorrects. I couldn't even tell you what chapter was the best one for me because it kept me enthralled throughout, from the note to the reader to the acknowledgements, I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a good laugh.
All hail the mighty typo! This is a fun read. I found myself laughing rather loudly several times as I wandered through these mistakes. It's refreshing to know that what typos I have made in my life do not compare to what some of these authors, typesetters and journalists have produced. It's also sad to know that none of my typos have produced the laughs that these writers have. When Drummond Moir compiled these typos he made sure to include a wide range of typos, even squeezing in some goofy autocorrects. I couldn't even tell you what chapter was the best one for me because it kept me enthralled throughout, from the note to the reader to the acknowledgements, I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a good laugh.
January 12, 2020
So funny. Some of the unfortunate errors made over the years are literally laugh out loud! Apologies to my family for doing just that.
June 5, 2015
"Just My Typo" is a short non-fiction work that compiles typos in manuscripts/headlines/first-final proofs, omitted words within a sentence, errors in punctuation, etc., from various sources including the written word, through media coverage and other forms of communication over the last millennia. Also, it includes sections such as 'My Favorite Typo' (that grabs some of the favorite typos from a hodgepodge of random novelists, journalists and other writers) and a section of' Interludes', which share interesting, unfamiliar anecdotes and random trivia about typos themselves. Some of my favorites are:
After being moved to tears by the sheer scale of CERN's particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, Richard Dawkins attempted to express his awe in his new book. But in what he described as "an unfortunate misprint", the objects of his affection came out as "The Large Hardon Collider."
In November 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hand-wrote a letter of condolence to a mother whose son had died in Afghanistan, during which he misspelled the deceased's surname. The Sun published a vitriolic article criticizing his lack of care. In this article, the paper misspelled the same name and was forced to publish an apology of its own.
REPORT: ARMSTRONG USED RUGS (CBC News Caption in wake of Lance Armstrong's admission to Oprah Winfrey that he used illegal substances)
Come Fartably Numb (Song title on pirated Pink Floyd CD, Hong Kong)
In a press release from a company that sells spell-checking software for websites, TextTrust proudly lists "the 16 million we pages it has spell-checked over the past year." (for irony's sake!)
"Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say, "Hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.
The widows of the church need washing badly. They are too dirty for any use and are a disgrace to our village. "(both from parish newsletters to its parishioners)
Part informational/part immature, the errors within this work put me out of an unglamorous, melancholic phase and had me laughing from front to back. All pedants, such as myself, will enjoy this.
After being moved to tears by the sheer scale of CERN's particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, Richard Dawkins attempted to express his awe in his new book. But in what he described as "an unfortunate misprint", the objects of his affection came out as "The Large Hardon Collider."
In November 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hand-wrote a letter of condolence to a mother whose son had died in Afghanistan, during which he misspelled the deceased's surname. The Sun published a vitriolic article criticizing his lack of care. In this article, the paper misspelled the same name and was forced to publish an apology of its own.
REPORT: ARMSTRONG USED RUGS (CBC News Caption in wake of Lance Armstrong's admission to Oprah Winfrey that he used illegal substances)
Come Fartably Numb (Song title on pirated Pink Floyd CD, Hong Kong)
In a press release from a company that sells spell-checking software for websites, TextTrust proudly lists "the 16 million we pages it has spell-checked over the past year." (for irony's sake!)
"Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say, "Hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.
The widows of the church need washing badly. They are too dirty for any use and are a disgrace to our village. "(both from parish newsletters to its parishioners)
Part informational/part immature, the errors within this work put me out of an unglamorous, melancholic phase and had me laughing from front to back. All pedants, such as myself, will enjoy this.
July 6, 2014
Read as digital ARC.
Once you become a Mass Communication major, typos become your natural enemy. Why not take a break from correcting your Facebook friends, who are in the throes of the your/you're struggle, or from figuring out all those little, bizarre capitalization rules and pick up this book? You could potentially save your future self from making embarrassing mistakes.
Just My Typo is a good book to read a little at a time. It's also a bit of a puzzle book, as you'll occasionally need to challenge your mind to identify the typo--it's not always easy. Although, I was a bit confused by the organization and off-put by the sections with large blocks of text, I loved seeing typos in their natural habitat and definitely had a few laugh-out-loud moments. Last thought: I was going to harass Not My Typo for promising stories of "riveting typos," but I then proceeded to be thoroughly entertained by the stories that followed. So, never mind.
Once you become a Mass Communication major, typos become your natural enemy. Why not take a break from correcting your Facebook friends, who are in the throes of the your/you're struggle, or from figuring out all those little, bizarre capitalization rules and pick up this book? You could potentially save your future self from making embarrassing mistakes.
Just My Typo is a good book to read a little at a time. It's also a bit of a puzzle book, as you'll occasionally need to challenge your mind to identify the typo--it's not always easy. Although, I was a bit confused by the organization and off-put by the sections with large blocks of text, I loved seeing typos in their natural habitat and definitely had a few laugh-out-loud moments. Last thought: I was going to harass Not My Typo for promising stories of "riveting typos," but I then proceeded to be thoroughly entertained by the stories that followed. So, never mind.
February 11, 2015
"Just My Typo" is a funny collection of typos. Some of them I have seen before (typos seem to be popular viral fodder for the internet) but some of them were brand new to me and were very funny. We readers and writers are a funny breed. We love the written word and when the written word goes wrong, something poignant can easily turn into something that is either hilarious, embarrassing, or both. This book is a collection of an editor's worst nightmare!
This book is perfect for those who like to read and to write. I do a little of both and I also love editing. If you don't have a good editor, you may miss something that totally changes the meaning of what you're writing. It was fascinating to me to see how many small mistakes totally changed what was being said. Some of the mistakes I laughed pretty hard at!
I could see this being for a really great gift book for the reader, writer, or editor in your life! Very funny!
This book is perfect for those who like to read and to write. I do a little of both and I also love editing. If you don't have a good editor, you may miss something that totally changes the meaning of what you're writing. It was fascinating to me to see how many small mistakes totally changed what was being said. Some of the mistakes I laughed pretty hard at!
I could see this being for a really great gift book for the reader, writer, or editor in your life! Very funny!
August 31, 2016
One of the top favorites....
I can't describe how much I love reading someone else's mistakes. This IS the book! A collection of misprints and errors for everyone, from signs and text messages, to print.
I enjoyed the various fonts, such as the children "hand-writings."
I don't have to worry about recommending this book to friends. I took it to work and put it on the corner of my desk. Three colleagues came in at different times, saw it, and picked it up and began to peruse. I didn't have to read some of the sections because they read them out loud while trying not to laugh. If I was a sharing kind of person, I may let others borrow the book. I think they can come to my office and read there. This way I ensure my book does not "walk out" never to be seen again!
Typo book 2???
I can't describe how much I love reading someone else's mistakes. This IS the book! A collection of misprints and errors for everyone, from signs and text messages, to print.
I enjoyed the various fonts, such as the children "hand-writings."
I don't have to worry about recommending this book to friends. I took it to work and put it on the corner of my desk. Three colleagues came in at different times, saw it, and picked it up and began to peruse. I didn't have to read some of the sections because they read them out loud while trying not to laugh. If I was a sharing kind of person, I may let others borrow the book. I think they can come to my office and read there. This way I ensure my book does not "walk out" never to be seen again!
Typo book 2???
June 15, 2014
Just My Typo: From "Sinning with the Choir" to "the Untied States" compiled by Drummond Moir is a collection of writing or printing mistakes that are simply hilarious. There are errors made by kids in all their innocence and college students doing entire papers on “Gnome research” and how biologists and breeders are so focused on it. There are old typos from newspapers of the 1800s and instant messages that have been spell corrected into such naughty, naughty words. Cook and Aunt are often misspelled it seems.
There are mistakes both domestic and foreign, some are very puzzling ( take a copy of a Shakespeare play with that immortal line “To be or to be.” And you get a small taste of what is happening here.
This is not the first collection of typos I’ve read, but it is the latest and it is very nicely done.
I won this very very funky collection through Goodreads.
There are mistakes both domestic and foreign, some are very puzzling ( take a copy of a Shakespeare play with that immortal line “To be or to be.” And you get a small taste of what is happening here.
This is not the first collection of typos I’ve read, but it is the latest and it is very nicely done.
I won this very very funky collection through Goodreads.
May 12, 2015
I received a free copy thru Goodreads’ First Reads.
A fun listing of typos that work as excellent examples of how one letter or punctuation mark out of place can completely change the message you’re trying to convey.
There are some examples that have been floating around the internet for a while now, but the sections with examples of typesetters who flat out failed are brilliant and something I haven’t seen before.
It’s not really even educational, but I had fun reading it and there are times when that is all you need.
A fun listing of typos that work as excellent examples of how one letter or punctuation mark out of place can completely change the message you’re trying to convey.
There are some examples that have been floating around the internet for a while now, but the sections with examples of typesetters who flat out failed are brilliant and something I haven’t seen before.
It’s not really even educational, but I had fun reading it and there are times when that is all you need.
December 30, 2012
A mildly amusing collection of bad spellings, missing letters and typos in one little book.
It is split into several chapters with themed errors, and between each chapter is a little interlude. Some of these I have read before, and there are a few that are really funny.
It is split into several chapters with themed errors, and between each chapter is a little interlude. Some of these I have read before, and there are a few that are really funny.
June 21, 2014
Unfortunately, this book has the same drawback as books of this nature suffer. After reading the first batch of entries, it becomes repetitious and tedious to read. However, its short length makes read it tolerable.
May 9, 2014
A very funny read, this book will keep you laughing for hours. This book easy to pick up and can be read only a few pages at a time. Any grammar Nazi would love to read this book. However, the mistakes are only funny the first two or three times so it can't be re-read very well.
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April 13, 2021I received this book as a giveaway winner, and I've really enjoyed it. I'm always amused by typos and misprints, anyway, and this compilation made me laugh out loud at times. Definitely a fun book worth adding to your collection!
June 6, 2014
A clever books of typos, wrong words, funny signs and clips that make you laugh out loud. Organized by category (religious mistakes, legal mistakes) and interspersed with editor's favorites and snippets of history and stories, it makes a small gift and a funny, enjoyable read.
March 28, 2015
Not merely laugh-out-loud funny, but intelligently compiled. He includes examples from earlier such compilations, but, charmingly, lists them all at the end. A priceless typo is priceless forever. I am grateful to the anonymous Santa who put this book in my Christmas stocking!
January 22, 2016
Featuring a collection of subtle and not-so-subtle typos, this book will keep you entertained for quite a while. Unfortunately, as with many collections of the kind, they tend to repeat a lot but it can't be helped.
December 24, 2013
Very entertaining read! Perfect book for a lover of English.
October 27, 2022
It's astonishing and quite irritating to see the mistakes made in print by people.
September 9, 2014
"I am certain of one thing. Whatever may come between us -- and wherever he may be on Earth -- Arthur will always remember that I love ham."
--from The Parting by Millicent Hemming
--from The Parting by Millicent Hemming
August 3, 2016
Fun to read if you're a spelling and grammar Nazi BAMF.
March 26, 2020
For a word nerd like me, this was a fun read. I picked it up to read a few chapters....and just kept reading. Some of the errors are quite amusing! It's a quick little read. I thought the organization of the book was a tad unusual, though. If you're a grammar geek, you'll enjoy it.
November 14, 2019
It's humorous, to an extent. But it just didn't grab me as much as I'd hoped it would.
November 29, 2019
Great book to have on hand and pick up and flip through every once in a while. Some of the typos are downright hilarious, especially the section on texting.
April 7, 2022
Funny collection of typos from published books, articles, and posts. Quick read that made me literally laugh out loud.
March 5, 2018
this was a silly dollar tree find... used it as a palate cleanser between other books. to quote one of those kids in the 'immaculate contraption: kids' typos' section, "this book belongs in the anals of english literature." funny, chuckle-worthy, a lot of UK-english gaffes... reinforces the need for more spell check and grammar check but LESS auto-correct. also nice to have a new set of people and mistakes to judge. ;)
August 31, 2014
Over the course of the past week I read (or rather giggled through) JUST MY TYPO by Drummond Moir. The subtitle gives a clear hint about what is to be found within:
From "Sinning with the choir" to "The Untied States".
JUST MY TYPO is a compendium of well-documented typos arranged in twelve hilarious chapters. I recall once upon a time reading a list of typos from church bulletins to a class. I got so tickled that I could barely read it. Not everyone thought it was as funny as I did, but I still love to see a good typo. I'm working hard not to create a typo in this post about a book filled with typos.
Typos often create an idea that was not intended by the author. That is, unless Freud was correct when he wrote, "There are times when the most insignificant slip in writing can serve to express a dangerous secret meaning" (p. 130). Even so, a misplaced letter or absence of necessary punctuation can change the meaning of an innocent sentence into a ribald suggestion. Sometimes those can be embarrassing or even produce an unintended profanity (of which there are some in this book). A few milder samples ...
It took many rabbits many years to write the Talmud. (Holland Evening Sentinel, Michigan)
French widow in every bedroom. (Hotel advertisement)
Do not sue Vicks Sinex for longer than 7 days without medical advice. (Packaging for Vicks Sinex spray)
Seen in a church bulletin: Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.
I once saw a very disconcerting shop sign that simply read: "WE ARE CLOSE."
That should give you some of the flavor of the book. Author Drummond Moir grew up in Edinburgh and studied at St. Anne’s College, Oxford, and Daiichi Keizai University in Fukuoka, Japan. Now based in London, he is Editorial Director of Sceptre, one of the UK’s leading literary imprints. He has researched well and produced a thoroughly entertaining book.
Grammarians will love this book, I know I certainly did. I highly recommend it for many smiles.
From "Sinning with the choir" to "The Untied States".
JUST MY TYPO is a compendium of well-documented typos arranged in twelve hilarious chapters. I recall once upon a time reading a list of typos from church bulletins to a class. I got so tickled that I could barely read it. Not everyone thought it was as funny as I did, but I still love to see a good typo. I'm working hard not to create a typo in this post about a book filled with typos.
Typos often create an idea that was not intended by the author. That is, unless Freud was correct when he wrote, "There are times when the most insignificant slip in writing can serve to express a dangerous secret meaning" (p. 130). Even so, a misplaced letter or absence of necessary punctuation can change the meaning of an innocent sentence into a ribald suggestion. Sometimes those can be embarrassing or even produce an unintended profanity (of which there are some in this book). A few milder samples ...
It took many rabbits many years to write the Talmud. (Holland Evening Sentinel, Michigan)
French widow in every bedroom. (Hotel advertisement)
Do not sue Vicks Sinex for longer than 7 days without medical advice. (Packaging for Vicks Sinex spray)
Seen in a church bulletin: Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.
I once saw a very disconcerting shop sign that simply read: "WE ARE CLOSE."
That should give you some of the flavor of the book. Author Drummond Moir grew up in Edinburgh and studied at St. Anne’s College, Oxford, and Daiichi Keizai University in Fukuoka, Japan. Now based in London, he is Editorial Director of Sceptre, one of the UK’s leading literary imprints. He has researched well and produced a thoroughly entertaining book.
Grammarians will love this book, I know I certainly did. I highly recommend it for many smiles.
September 22, 2014
Just My Typo is a great collection of hilarious typos. There is a focus: single-letter/space/punctuation typos. And there is an organization: legal typos, religious typos, medical typos, etc. Of course, these can be organized any which way, and one way would appeal more to some than other, but Moir (or should I call him DrommonG Moir?) does a good job of compiling and organizing for my taste. I laughed a lot while reading the book, which was not ideal in the subway, but I really cannot complain. I noticed a few things: a) I laugh more when a bad thing is misspelled so it is harmless (e.g., "Armstrong Used Rugs!" Did he, now? Rugs! You don't say!); b) by far the most frequent misspelling quoted in the book is public --> pubic; c) children are confused about the spelling of cute, and most importantly, think that it is spelled just like cunt (who is teaching children to write that?! tsk tsk tsk...); and d) also common is a confusion between adulthood and adultery (same diff!).
As a molecular biologist and a technical writer, one of my favorite typos quoted in the book has to be the one where a student goes on and on about gnomes (which got me thinking about the genomes of gnomes, which, I assure you, is not easy thinking). This also makes me want to point out that to get the most out of the typos, one does have to know a bit (for example, I got the gnomes-->genomes typo right away, whereas most people might not have, since they might not know what a genome is [they should, of course, but that's a different book.]) So in a way, Just My Typo is also a subtle education about many facets of life.
Recommended for those who enjoy reading about language and grammar, and those who are learning English.
As a molecular biologist and a technical writer, one of my favorite typos quoted in the book has to be the one where a student goes on and on about gnomes (which got me thinking about the genomes of gnomes, which, I assure you, is not easy thinking). This also makes me want to point out that to get the most out of the typos, one does have to know a bit (for example, I got the gnomes-->genomes typo right away, whereas most people might not have, since they might not know what a genome is [they should, of course, but that's a different book.]) So in a way, Just My Typo is also a subtle education about many facets of life.
Recommended for those who enjoy reading about language and grammar, and those who are learning English.
September 8, 2014
Typos are everywhere.
Despite advances in technology, and sometimes because of it, gramatical mistakes are a way of life. Typographical goofs pervade all aspects of our culture from politics to education to religion.
Often times, they can be embarrassing. Other times, they’re interestingly ironic. Either way, typos are usually hilarious.
That’s the premise of the book ‘Just My Typo’ by Drummund Moir. This compilation gathers typos of all kinds in one perfect storm of bad grammar, which you don’t need an English degree to appreciate.
From street sign slipups to newspaper headline headscratchers, the book divides these typos into a variety of categories. The structure is varied enough to keep the reading light and entertaining.
At times the text gets bogged down into linguistic minutia, but for the most part the context remains understandable to a wide audience. Most mistakes are easy to spot and easier to laugh at.
By far the funniest chapter featured technological typos in the form of unfortunate text messages and emails. Spell check and autocorrect have done their part to expose the illiterate and illogical.
While the book contained a good blend of humor and knowledge, there is only so much anyone can take of misspellings and poor punctuation. Thankfully, the publication was short and to the point.
Probably best studied for English teachers and journalism editors, Just My Typo is a quick and semi-entertaining piece for anyone who loves letters and enjoys mocking those who fail while writing.
Despite advances in technology, and sometimes because of it, gramatical mistakes are a way of life. Typographical goofs pervade all aspects of our culture from politics to education to religion.
Often times, they can be embarrassing. Other times, they’re interestingly ironic. Either way, typos are usually hilarious.
That’s the premise of the book ‘Just My Typo’ by Drummund Moir. This compilation gathers typos of all kinds in one perfect storm of bad grammar, which you don’t need an English degree to appreciate.
From street sign slipups to newspaper headline headscratchers, the book divides these typos into a variety of categories. The structure is varied enough to keep the reading light and entertaining.
At times the text gets bogged down into linguistic minutia, but for the most part the context remains understandable to a wide audience. Most mistakes are easy to spot and easier to laugh at.
By far the funniest chapter featured technological typos in the form of unfortunate text messages and emails. Spell check and autocorrect have done their part to expose the illiterate and illogical.
While the book contained a good blend of humor and knowledge, there is only so much anyone can take of misspellings and poor punctuation. Thankfully, the publication was short and to the point.
Probably best studied for English teachers and journalism editors, Just My Typo is a quick and semi-entertaining piece for anyone who loves letters and enjoys mocking those who fail while writing.
September 21, 2014
The typos: some subtle, some blatant, ALL hilarious! Yes, I'm easily amused and magnetically drawn to spotting typos and written mistakes; however, there's a bit of something for everyone in this book, even those who don't have a freakish attraction to error. It's not a book to pick-up and read in one sitting, rather, I found it more fun to just read a few pages for a quick chuckle, head shake, and lift. Family members would hear my laughter and ask if I was reading THAT book again.
A crowning jewel for me was a typo that author/compiler Drummond Moir made himself (though he cleverly gave himself an out to all potential mistakes in the "Note to the Reader" section). In an "Interlude" about a third of the way into the book, he refers to a "University of Austin at Texas" misprint in a commencement brochure. For this Texas A&M graduate, THAT error got top laughs. (It is the University of Texas at Austin.)
I highly recommend this book for those with the editor's eye, but I also can see great applications for using it in the classroom as a fun and funny tool for teaching some of the nuances of the English language. "Spot the Typo" could be a fun starter activity for any classroom.
Thank you, thank you to Blogging for Books who provided me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give.
A crowning jewel for me was a typo that author/compiler Drummond Moir made himself (though he cleverly gave himself an out to all potential mistakes in the "Note to the Reader" section). In an "Interlude" about a third of the way into the book, he refers to a "University of Austin at Texas" misprint in a commencement brochure. For this Texas A&M graduate, THAT error got top laughs. (It is the University of Texas at Austin.)
I highly recommend this book for those with the editor's eye, but I also can see great applications for using it in the classroom as a fun and funny tool for teaching some of the nuances of the English language. "Spot the Typo" could be a fun starter activity for any classroom.
Thank you, thank you to Blogging for Books who provided me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give.
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