…at my expense, of course.
Shenpen Chokyi has just launched her new site, about her upcoming Yijing book and cards. (At least, it will be upcoming if we let her know we’re interested!) So… I looked through her site, and let her know about a couple of errors I found. We chatted by email, and I said,
“Come to think of it, it’s been several months since anyone wrote to point out a typo in the James Legge translation in my site’s free reading – which has been online now 12 or 13 years. Maybe that means there aren’t any more…?”
Naturally, she went to the free reading and asked,
‘Should I point out a typo to Hilary?’
She received 40.2.4 to 2, and two typos. And when I ruefully pointed out that still only made two foxes…
(40.2:
‘In the field, taking three foxes.
Gaining a golden arrow.
Constancy, good fortune.’)
…she had another go. ‘Are there any other typos you’d like to point out to Hilary?’ 50.2.3.6 to 16, with a spelling mistake in line 2, where the stew is spilled (not ‘split’…)
Of course, this could be one of those cases where ‘three’ means ‘lots’. That’s seeming increasingly likely. Anyway – I’m just about to take a week off, so the foxes and spillages will have to look after themselves for a while. Meanwhile, can I recommend Shenpen’s site?
As a former newspaper editor, I have seen a lot of typos, and this is a cosmically good one. Thanks for sharing.
My all time favorite occurred at my very first job as a cub reporter, back in the days when type was set by machine. The first papers to roll off the presses were brought up to the newsroom, and we were all to read our own stories for mistakes and typos. One of mine had a sentence about how a local company was going to have to “shift” priorities, and you can guess what the typo was! Got to hear the managing editor shout those immortal words “Stop the presses!” as he bolted down the stairs to the pressroom.
Hm, I don’t know, I think that’s exactly how some priorities are generated…