You may or may not have seen my post at Punctuality Rules Tuesday, about a book I recently bought that had the actual TITLE misspelled on the spine of the book. A glaring typographical error that really (really!) should have been caught. So, using that as a springboard, today’s question: What’s the worst typographical error you’ve ever found in (or on) a book?
I do notice spelling mistakes in books, but not enough to be able to remember so that I can answer this question.
Instead, I thought I would mention one name that I think is spelt incorrectly every time I see it and that is the name of the main character in Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series. On her website, it is very clearly stated that the name is pronounced Fry-knee (as in to rhyme with Briny) but every time I see it I want to pronounce it Fern, which I would think would be spelled Phyrne! One of these days the correct name will stick in my head.
I know...not exactly the intention of the question, but at least I managed to post on time this time. Last week's answer is still sitting in draft!
I just read Shadow Hawk by Jill Shalvis. The hero's first name is wrong on the back cover and the letter to the reader (it has his partner's name instead). But the worst I've ever encountered is the Temptation I bought years ago which had the wrong back cover blurb for the story that was inside the book. I was so confused, and it took me a moment to figure out that they'd stuffed it up.
ReplyDeleteWow...those are shocking errors!
ReplyDeleteWow Kat... those are bad!
ReplyDeleteTalking of pronunciations, my name is mispelled and incorrectly pronounced by most, even by Indians. Most spell my name as GUATAMI not GAUTAMI.
ReplyDeleteAnd address me as Gotme not ga-oo-ta-mi.
Worse typo ever: in the middle of the main square of the old city in Montevideo, there's a fountain. Now, this is the square around which they built the cathedral and the city hall, so it's really, really central, and the fountain is the focal point of the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteThis fountain has a carving around it, talking about how it commemorates our independence and our constitution and yadda, yadda, yadda. Well, the words "independence" and "constitution" are misspelled! I swear, they wrote "Indipendencia" instead of "Independencia" and "Costitución" instead of "Constitución"!
The Sheriff by Nan Ryan, a rather horrid western from last year. The back cover copy gets the last names wrong for both hero and heroine! And the heroine's name is REALLY wrong. She's Kate VanNam throughout the whole blessed book, but Kate Quinn on the back cover copy. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteYou do have to wonder how they get the names wrong in the back cover blurb don't you!
ReplyDeleteRosario...that's terrible...and funny! Someone's mistake recorded forever!
Marg - I have heard that the people who does the back cover blurb does not read the book. They only get the snip of the story and that it. By the time authors changed names, the back cover blurb is already done before they can do redo it. But I don't know if that true...so don't hold me to it ;)
ReplyDeleteI do know what you mean by pronounce characters' names. The way I see it, is the way I pronounce it. Unless the authors clearly stated different otherwise ;)
The only reason I mentioned Phryne is because every time I read it I see Phyrne!
ReplyDeleteI never understand people who get hung up on the pronunciation of names and things. As long as I can recognise the character each time the reenter the narrative, I pronounce it however I think!
Wow, Kat, that IS really bad!
ReplyDeleteMy sister's favorite example? A "Golden Book" she'd gotten for my niece when she was little, about Poky the Puppy (or something like that). The first sentence of the book? It started "Oky the puppy...."
Hi Marg!
ReplyDeleteRecently I have came across a book with a character whose name is Ella but it was printed Emma instead. I think having the name mixed up is a big no-no to me.
It would seem to be a pretty basic mistake to make wouldn't it!
ReplyDelete