Every now and then, in my job as a proofreader, I come across a typo that makes me laugh out loud or elicits a ‘Whhhhaaaaaat?!’ – when the author accidentally writes something that ends up having a meaning they really did not intend. I got the idea for this post while reviewing the work of my author sister, novelist Terry Tyler Terry Tyler’s Books, who said that when writing at speed and getting involved with the story, it’s so easy to type something that you simply can’t believe you did. (Which is another reason not to use that old false friend spellcheck, by the way, because these are mostly genuine words, just in the wrong place.)
I’ve been keeping a list (and I wish I’d started it earlier, I’ve seen some absolute lulus!) I thought I’d share them here for your amusement, and they are all strictly anonymous – I will not reveal my sources. But I and the authors concerned have shared a laugh over their mistakes, and it just proves something that I always maintain, i.e. that one cannot effectively proofread one’s own work. My thanks go to all who (initially unintentionally!) contributed.
What they wrote | What they meant | What it looks like | |
1 | On the lamb | On the run | Sitting on a young sheep |
2 | It’s a bad wrap | I’ve been wrongfully accused | I don’t like my lunch order |
3 | Vualá | Voilà | I don’t know even basic French, and I didn’t bother to Google it |
4 | Dough-eyed | Doe-eyed | Eyes like pastry? |
5 | Martin atmosphere | Martian atmosphere | Hello, Mr Atmosphere |
6 | A small vile of liquid | A small vial, or glass container, of liquid | This liquid’s really nasty! |
7 | Leaning against the door jam | Door jamb | They make jam out of doors?! Rather woody taste. |
8 | The muscles in his neck were taught | Taut | What did they learn? |
9 | He was tempted to eat a second desert | Gimme some of that ice cream | You going to eat all that sand? |
10 | On the left was yellow, arid dessert | Desert | I’d rather have the strawberry cheesecake |
11 | The judge halted the trail | Oh, the trial! | What, the Appalachian Trail? |
12 | She worked in a stationary shop | She worked in a stationery shop | It didn’t move around, then? |
13 | I will stay away from you and your elk | I don’t like you or your friends | Keep that great brute away from me! |
14 | Two policemen were peeing through the window. | Peering (I hope!) | Surely they could arrest each other for that? |
15 | Doug came from Manchester, and spoke with a strong Manchurian accent. | Mancunian | Oh, he was Anglo-Chinese, was he? |
16 | You know what they say, a room wasn’t built in a day! | Rome | Why not? (And they don’t!) |
17 | You could melt butter with the heath between my thighs (from an erotic novel) | Heat (although there are better ways to soften butter) | Way too many weird mental images right now! |
18 | The rent was dew | Due | The fairy folk pay my rent |
19 | There were two centuries guarding a gate | Sentries | Okay, I give up! |
20 | She practised sign language with her two dead colleagues | Deaf | Sounds like a bit of a waste of time |
21 | Don’t talk such uniformed nonsense | Uninformed | I prefer my nonsense to be dressed casually |
22 | We passed our time in gentile conversation | Genteel | We didn’t talk about any Jewish people |
23 | She was wearing black patient leather shoes | Patent | A change from her usual irritable footwear |
24 | He’s regarded as an danger to the pubic | Public | Watch out for those sensitive areas, lads |
25 | My knees trebled in anticipation | Trembled | Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Mr Six-Knees! |
26 | He attended Greenwich Navel Collage, also It looked like the scene of a navel battle | Naval College | One vowel – big difference |
27 | Henry left the martial home | Marital | Presumably because it’d turned into a war zone |
28 | She spent a lot of time sawing her own clothes | Sewing | Shabby chic? |
29 | Sand out the armed guards! | Send | Smooth out their rough edges, har har! |
30 | The Baby Jesus was laid in a manager | Manger | Sounds a bit uncomfortable for both of them. |
31 | While lambs gambled in the sun | Gambolled | OK, everyone, aces are high, deuces are wild! |
32 | Angus Dei | Agnus Dei | A Scotsman favoured by God |
33 | A barmy hot night | Balmy | What a crazy night that was |
34 | I heard a woman whaling | Wailing | There she blows! |
35 | Ma trade | maître d’ | Yes, it took me a while to work out what he meant |
36 | (To a patient in a fertility clinic) ‘You may wish to consider freezing your seamen for the future’. | Semen | It seems conditions in the navy are very harsh these days! |
37 | The ground was rhymed with frost | Rimed | No it wasn’t, it rhymes with ‘sound’. |
38 | I used to love our post-colitis conversations | Post-coital | Talking about inflammation of the bowel and rectum doesn’t sound like fun to me. |
39 | He stained his ears in the darkness | Strained | What colour? |
40 | He picked up a tight-fitting green shit and pulled it over his head | Shirt | Yeugh! |
41 | Katie tiled her head towards him | Tilted | Sounds dreadfully uncomfortable |
42 | He bit his nails, irradiated | Irritated | He won’t have many nails left to bite, if he keeps that up |
43 | She glared at me through gritted teeth | OK, mental picture? | Sounds as if someone hasn’t redrafted! |
44 | He’d got caught up in a drug-dealing racquet | Racket | Bet he failed to score, lost that game, and was ‘served’ with a summons! |
45 | I didn’t want to panda to his whims | Pander | Especially if they included eating bamboo shoots |
46 | I looked very festival sheik | Festival chic | I suppose a thawb is comfortable for a festival, but how would you keep it clean? |