Monday, September 24, 2007

September 24, 2007 - Autum, Autmn

Today marks the first working day of autumn, a bittersweet commemoration of the ineluctable slide from summer into winter. It's also the birthday of a loved one who passed away three years ago in August. For country kids like us, still brushing the hayseeds from our sleepy eyes come September, the spelling of a word like autumn could be a tricky proposition. Far better to fall back on fall. After all, what sort of weird word has an M and then an N right after it? You'd need a special mnemonic to remember that. Autmn and Autum are both "low probability" typos on the Ballard list. (In memory of and photograph by John D. Reid.)

Carol Reid

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