The Bad Penny (beta)

I’m not going to say much about David Cross’ “I Drink for a Reason,” which came out in August, because no one is capable of escaping the derision of the funniest man alive. I will say that I couldn’t wait to read the sucker and can’t wait to read it again.

But I do have something to get off my chest about the book, and that’s the eye-exploding number of typos in it. Having copy-editing experience on your résumé is a double-edged sword: As nice as it might be to be correct, it can also be very distracting when you’re reading, well, anything.

There’s no better example than “I Drink,” which was loaded with so many typos and grammatical errors that Cross had me laughing at one of the rare points in the book that was not meant to elicit giggles: At the end, when he thanks his proofreaders.

In fact, the prevalent typos were so distracting that I compiled a list of them. And the list turned out to be so long that I had to send it to someone at the publishing house, Hachette Book Group USA. Sign of the times, I guess, but the guy at HBG who wrote me back didn’t seem to care about the errors all that much. You probably don’t either, but maybe you’ll still find some amusement in the list I compiled, since it includes some hilarious misspelled names you’ll recognize:

p.9: peoples lives -> people’s lives
p.17: bebrudging -> begrudging
p.32: let’s us -> lets us
p.38: soul of your foot -> sole of your foot
p.44: sneak peak -> sneak peek
p.45: Ottowa -> Ottawa
p.46: walked passed -> walked past
p.47: it’s cheaper-by-the-ton, not-so-stain-resistent carpeting -> its cheaper-by-the-ton, not-so-stain-resistent carpeting
p.51: Hearts of Darkness -> Heart of Darkness
p.62: sneak peak -> sneak peek
p.75: Earnest Tubbs -> Ernest Tubb
p.83: Anne Coulter -> Ann Coulter
p.85: who’s laws are founded -> whose laws are founded
p.86: help and aide in distress -> help and aid in distress
p.87: Mormans -> Mormons
p.92: Malcom X -> Malcolm X
p.93: Three Doors Down -> 3 Doors Down
p.96: Hooter’s -> Hooters
p.105: Phillipino -> Filipino
p.105: self-conscience -> self-conscious
p.113: cost conscience -> cost-conscious
p.114: Jumpers -> Jumper
p.115: Morman -> Mormon
p.117: Cornell West -> Cornel West
p.120: its 7:45 -> it’s 7:45
p.138: “Mark Lemke, Los Angeles, CA” is missing beneath the penultimate letter
p.142: laugh a little but to yourself -> laugh a little bit to yourself
p.146: Emmit Till -> Emmett Till
p.163: The have to try -> They have to try
p.164: its just a bunch -> it’s just a bunch
p.165: “I can’t believe its” -> “I can’t believe it’s”
p.170: Mama Mia -> Mamma Mia!
p.177: Emmy’s -> Emmys
p.197: then it’s subtle -> than its subtle
throughout: Whoopie Goldberg -> Whoopi Goldberg

This entry was posted on 12/29/2009 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Features, What You Readin' For? with tags David Cross. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.