Typographical errors

Typo’s, we all make them. I joined the Society of Authors and in the editorial of the very first magazine I received, there was a huge typo. The edition featured articles about controversial books and the editor talked about a book that had been 'attached' by the Hungarian government. I’m pretty sure the editor meant, 'attacked'.

But typo’s are not always a bad thing. This was explained by Simon Whistler on a YouTube video far more eloquently that I can ever do. The idea is that you have what you want to say in your head, so you don’t see the mistake. If the reader fails to spot the error, then that is because they are engrossed in the story and their brain has inserted the correction, and that is possibly a good thing. Well, that’s going to be my excuse from now on.

The following is a true story.

I worked for many years at a sound company providing equipment for concerts, whether they be in clubs, arenas, stadia or world tours. And they all need an awful lot of stuff. My job was to get the artists’ technical spec’ and see if we had all the equipment available for the period of time that it was required. Due to the sheer amount of work that we did, we often didn’t have the right kit, so I would have to rent it in from somewhere else, which was sometimes difficult.

One piece of kit is a drum thumper; it's a device that clips onto the drummer’s stool that pulses with a timing signal, and they are very effective. At the time there was only one make, the rather literally named ‘Butt Kicker’.

I received at technical spec one Monday morning, I read through it, checked against our database and found that for once, we had everything they needed. Looking forward to a slightly easier week, I composed a reply email.

‘I have read through your technical spec’ and we have all the equipment you require for the period.’

Formal, short and sweet, but have I made any typos? So I did what I always did and read through before hitting send. An hour later I received an email. ‘What make of mixing desk are you supplying?’

I replied: ‘As per your technical spec’ we will be supplying a Digidesign profile.’ I read it through, and satisfied that there were no errors, hit send.

An hour later. ‘What vocal microphones are you sending?’

I replied: ‘As per your technical spec’ we will be supplying all the microphones you require.’ I read through it, found no errors, and hit send.

This went on every hour for the whole week as the person worked through the entire specification. Now, I didn’t know what sort of pressure that person was under. Had they been supplied with completely the wrong stuff on a previous show? – it happens. Have they had a bad show and are worried about losing their job? My job was to help them, so I remain calm and responded accordingly.

But by ten to six on Friday even my patience was being tested and I just wanted to go home. The final question was: ‘What make of drum thumper are you sending down?’

I replied, ‘We will be sending down a Butt Kicker.’ I hit send, then I realised that I hadn’t checked for typos, and oh boy had I made one. K is next to L on the keyboard and what I had said was:

‘We will be sending you down a Butt Licker’.

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