The Machinery of Night

Posted 5:09 PM by Angie Schultz

Houston, Houston, Can You Spell?

Yes, I know this is fantastically petty. Yes, indeed, I too have to stop and think how to spell this word. Yes, sometimes I make typos even in words I know how to spell.

Tough.

The "Outlook" (opinion) section of today's paper:

I have helpfully highlighted the offending word. They've -- or, rather, the author has -- spelled it correctly in the second paragraph. I thought about reading through the tiresome article to see if it was some sort of pun, but the online version spared me that chore: "consensus" is spelled correctly there.

I should really have been in my pajamas to post this, but I was dressed by the time I read the paper.

Yes, I know: petty. Ha ha ha!

The giant SHAME refers to this article, but I left it in anyway.

Niles asks: why this spelling? Surely "consensus" has to do with taking a census of opinion. No. This dictionary explains that it is from the Latin word consentire, to agree, and hence is related to "consent".

You wouldn't believe how many typos I've made writing this.

Labels: Layers of fact-checking