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Pedants' corner
Original poster

It's not a typo, you just wrote it wrong

57 replies

Trills · 07/02/2017 08:05

A typo is when your brain knows what you wanted to write but your fingers got it wrong.

"teh" instead of "the", for example

or "it'sn ot" when you meant to write "it's not"

If you spell something wrong or use the wrong word when there's no plausible way that your fingers could have done it on their own, it's not a typo.

OP posts:
OutsSelf · 07/02/2017 08:06

'Wrote it wrong' sounds incorrect to me. Was it a typo, OP?

Original poster
Trills · 07/02/2017 08:07

Also - it's only a selfie if the person in the picture took it THEMSELVES

OP posts:
notagiraffe · 07/02/2017 08:08

Not true. I'm an editor and get paid a fortune to write professionally. But I sent an email to a client yesterday which said 'I now' instead of 'I know.' Should have checked it, but was in a hurry and it was one of those emails you dash off, not one that requires thought for its content. It looked ignorant but was a typo.

MorrisZapp · 07/02/2017 08:10

Agree. 'queue MIL kicking off...' isn't a typo. It's the wrong word.

Original poster
Trills · 07/02/2017 08:11

That was one letter different notagiraffe - that perfectly fits my description of a typo.

OP posts:
motherinferior · 07/02/2017 08:13

Yes! Yes! And thrice yes!

SprogletsMum · 07/02/2017 08:13

The selfie thing gives me the rage. I see so many pictures on fb titled 'selfie of my princesses' which has clearly been taken by their mum from across the room Angry

Bluebellevergreen · 07/02/2017 08:13

Shouldn't it be "wrote it wrongly"? Or in a wrong manner?

Original poster
Trills · 07/02/2017 08:13

Hi OutsSelf - some would say "wrote it wrongly" - it depends on your beliefs regarding the use of adverbs. I think "wrote it wrong" makes a stronger ending to the sentence.

OP posts:
motherinferior · 07/02/2017 08:14

It is also not 'taken out of context' if you just decide later it was a bit unfortunate and you shouldn't have said it.

motherinferior · 07/02/2017 08:15

How about 'you just wrote the wrong word'? Actually strengthens the point?

Original poster
Trills · 07/02/2017 08:16

It is taken out of context if you say "I'm easy" when people ask if you prefer Assam or English Breakfast and they use it to suggest that you are sexually promiscuous.

OP posts:
Original poster
Trills · 07/02/2017 08:18

"Wrote the wrong word" is pretty good.

"It's not a typo it's just the wrong word" would also have been good.

BUT sometimes non-typos come in the form of misspellings rather than entirely-different words.

OP posts:
Eolian · 07/02/2017 08:19

Yy to all the above. A poster accused me of taking her words out of context recently. No. I quoted the whole stupid thing you said. How is that out of context?

The wrong/wrongly thing is interesting. I guess it's arguable that if you use 'wrong', it is describing 'it', whereas if you use 'wrongly', it's describing how you wrote. I'm a bit of a stickler but I think 'wrong' sounds better in that sentence.

Original poster
Trills · 07/02/2017 08:22

Thanks - glad I'm not the only one who likes my sentence.

I hear it in my head pushing down on the last word.

"You did it wrong "

OP posts:
AgentProvocateur · 07/02/2017 08:34

Yes, to all of the above.

Rockpebblestone · 07/02/2017 08:49

Don't agree.

If someone types something incorrectly, no matter what the reason, it is still a typographical error. Thus explaining it as a 'typo' is correct.

Splitting hairs over the definition regarding the reason for the mistake just seems mean to me. Is is somehow more excusable for the fingers to make the mistake out of a lack of dexterity than the memory to make a mistake regarding how something is spelt? I don't think so particularly.

Rockpebblestone · 07/02/2017 08:50

Spot the typo! Wink

SoupDragon · 07/02/2017 08:52

With the advent of autocorrect, typos turn themselves into "just the wrong word" with no further input from the person typing. Thus is is a typo on the part of the person typing.

StealthPolarBear · 07/02/2017 08:57

Sprog let I suspect in a year or two we'll be told the word self has evolved to mean an image captured electronically. The word 'photograph' will be relegated to the same box as 'film' that has been replaced by 'movie'.

MrsNuckyThompson · 07/02/2017 09:26

I agree OP.

There is a typo (typographical error when you just hit the wrong key/missed a key etc) and a spelling mistake where you just don't know how to spell.

Big difference

ErrolTheDragon · 07/02/2017 09:36

But it's not always possible to tell a typo from a mis-spelling, especially a typo mangled by autocorrect.

Discrete instead of discreet or vv could be a typo. Rein might be a typo for reign, less likely the other way round. Unfortunately the more mistakes made, for whatever reason, the more likely people will become confused as to which is correct.

Rockpebblestone · 07/02/2017 09:38

"A typographical error (often shortened to typo) is a mistake made in the typing process (such as a spelling mistake) of printed material. Historically, this referred to mistakes in manual type-setting (typography)."
Typographical error - Wikipedia

So Wikipedia agree with me...

scaryclown · 07/02/2017 09:41

You wrote it INCORRECTLY .its an adverb. Wrong is a state..to be wrong. writing something incorrectly makes it wrong.

Honestrly...

NewtScamandersNaughtyNiffler · 07/02/2017 09:42

Also - it's only a selfie if the person in the picture took it THEMSELVES

Yes this. A million times this.

A Facebook group I was on Briefly used to have a "best selfie contest" Hmm as if that wasn't bad enough the winning 'selfie' was nearly always of someone's dog or baby. Used to give me the rage Angry

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