Friday, April 15, 2011

Frankl* + Frankin* (for Franklin, etc.)

Benjamin Franklin once wrote in his 18th-century annual, Poor Richard's Almanack: "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes." Another thing we can safely assume on Tax Day (if not be entirely certain of) is that we'll be seeing a lot more beautiful blue skies and sunshiny warm weather very soon. On the other hand, "April showers bring May flowers," so you might want to bring your umbrella along when you step outside this month. There were twenty hits in OhioLINK on today's combination typo, only one of which, frankly, was a false once—namely: Senator Mason guilty of flagrant abuse of the government franking privilege. His speech circulated in mutilated form under his frank: remarks of Senator R.F. [Richard Franklin] Pettigrew, in the U.S. Senate, June 5, 1900. Word to the wise: Don't let words like Franklin circulate in mutilated form in your library's catalog.

(Ben Franklin statue in Chicago's Lincoln Park, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Oh, tax day, and now, they've extended it to an additional day of misery on Monday. ;-)