Comments on: Watery Typo Leads to Salvation

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:45:44 +0000

Yep, another one…that’s the trouble with late-night blogging and attempting to rattle off a post without spending too much time on it.

By: AnonyMousey

AnonyMousey — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:27:15 +0000

Surely instead of “engineering goat’s” you meant “engineering goats”. Unless the work is the result of the efforts of a goat which engineered the project.

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:50:13 +0000

Yep, and there was me correcting my 13y old son who had had the temerity to correct the Pirates III script for referring to the unfortunates as having been hanged by the neck. It’s so true what they say about the kind of blog posts that get the most comments though. Maybe I should’ve proofread the darned thing properly before posting it. ;-)

By: Russ Swan

Russ Swan — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:27:35 +0000

David, I’m really sorry to have to do this to you – but when pedantry becomes competitive I feel I have little choice. One is hoist by one’s own petard, not hoisted.
R.

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:03:48 +0000

Hoisted again, doubly Roger

By: Roger Whitehead

Roger Whitehead — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:30:34 +0000

“In describing water’s fascinating properties I described it’s ability to interact act a fundamental level…”

Interact act — a typo; forgivable
it’s — oh dear, oh dear.

Some pedant you are. 8-)

Roger

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:27:34 +0000

So it is Adam…of course I’d actually written that item before I’d installed your custom chemistry dictionary.

By: azmanam

azmanam — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:38:27 +0000

Of course, if the word solvation were in the custom chemistry dictionary I am hosting at ChemSpy I wouldn’t have been caught out.

ZING!!!

Fear not, it’s already in there.

solute
solvate
solvated
solvates
solvating
solvation
solvatochromic
solvatochromism

Thanks for the plug, tho :)

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:09:27 +0000

JohnX, thanks for the comforting words. You're right, there are none so blind as those that cannot see. And, of course, if thine word processor offends thee, pluck it out. It's actually the autocorrect feature that is the pain, I write-type so quickly I don't always notice that Word has sneakily corrected a word like that. Of course, if the word solvation were in the custom chemistry dictionary I am hosting at ChemSpy I wouldn't have been caught out. db

By: Johnx

Johnx — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:19:30 +0000

I rarely see any paper or book that is free of a typographical error. You probably read your creation three or four times and saw “solvation” in your mind. I write all day, every day, and I see what I am thinking rather than the actual text. My editors are no better than I am in this regard.

O.K. David,

Solvation granted. We knew what you meant anyway.