Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Unbrel* (for Umbrel*)

Just caught wind of a fishy little typo in the following news story: "Panama City beach bams [sic] umbrellas." I figured they must have meant "bans," but at first I read that as bums. Either way, I guess, it's like one of those crazy fun/hard to say tongue twisters. (Although I bet Frankie and Annette could do it, while hanging ten at the same time.) At least the headline writer didn't get off on the wrong foot—or put on the wrong hat—with Pamana, but today's typo is yet another case of mistaking an N for an M, or vice versa. While it looks as though the beach umbrella ordinance has been overturned, I can't help thinking that if those bums down in Florida could take "umbrage" at a bit of shady sand and local color, I can only imagine what they would make of Christo's recent art installation, The Floating Piers, over in Italy. Echoing "The Gates" in NYC's Central Park, it's kind of like a giant "umbrella" that almost takes the place of the beach itself. Not only is it not "30 feet from the shore," it actually extends far out into the ocean, linking the town of Sulzano with Monte Isola and the island of San Paolo. Don't get burned by our typo of the day, which was found four times in OhioLINK, and 182 times in WorldCat.

(Beach umbrella, Toronto, Canada, 2 August 2011, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

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