Typo nightmare

> One mistyped letter or misspelt word can bring about a whole different meaning and a world of embarrassment

changes that make them (the complainant) look worse.

The Irish Times described a man named Ed Miliano as “a designer and illustrator”, but he demanded a correction.

So now, “Mr Miliano is an artist”.

The best errors conjure up interesting images.

Like this one from The New Yorker magazine which makes a writer seem like an ageless wizard.

“Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified the number of years E.B. White wrote for The New Yorker. It was five decades, not centuries.”

Or this startling word-picture from the Canberra Standard: “They travelled via the Cape on the Queen Mary, with 10,000 troops and 16 officers sharing a two-berth cabin.”

Asian names often puzzle English-speaking reporters, and is a rich source for errors, as shown by this correction in the Auckland Star.

“Mai Thai Finn is one of the students in the programme and was in the centre of the photo. We incorrectly listed her name as one of the items on the menu.”

In our defence, journalists work so fast that errors are inevitable.

Someone at the AP newswire once sent out a report on French politics that clearly wasn’t ready.

“Hollande will/won’t seek re-election,” the news flash told puzzled readers.

One of my condescending colleagues always points out everyone else’s spelling mistakes.

He probably wouldn’t like me revealing that he checks his own spelling on Google first.

Nury Vittachi is an Asia-based frequent traveller. Send ideas and comments to lifestyle.nury@ thesundaily.com.