Faux-ladelphia

Agence France-Presse (AFP), the oldest news agency in the world, made a serious faux pas attempting to spell the name one of the biggest cities in the U.S. in a recent article recapping a Bulls/76ers game. The spelling error was submitted by reader Stan Kost and is his second submission to the Proofreader. As you can see in the highlighted screen shot below, AFP misspelled the birthplace of the United States "Philaphia." "The best part is that it's gone unchecked for three days," noted Mr. Kost in an e-mail.

Indeed it has and don't look for it to be changed anytime soon. The above screen shot was taken from this Yahoo! News article posted on April 9th, but the mistake exists in many other places too, such as in this story on MSN Sports. Evidently, editors at places like Yahoo! News and MSN don't read the copy in wire articles before they print them.

And how about AFP? It's not like they screwed up some obscure American slang or something. They neglected to include three key letters in Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and the World Champion Phillies. And Ben Franklin, one of the most famous Philadelphians ever, was an ambassador and great friend to France. You'd think they wouldn't disgrace his legacy by bungling the spelling of the name of the city where he became famous and is buried. This is a huge mistake that never should've been made. Shame on zee French.

The Proofreader thanks Stan Kost for submitting the mistake.

Affect or Effect Conundrum

Today's post about the affect/effect conundrum is a result of a reader submission. Stan Kost e-mailed the Proofreader inquiring about a questionable word choice in an A.P. story on Alaska's frequently erupting Mount Redoubt that he saw recently on Yahoo! News. Mr. Kost wrote, "This Yahoo! News story used 'affects' as a noun. Shouldn't it be 'effects'? Or is it a legitimate alternate spelling?"

No, when used as nouns affect and effect are not interchangeable. When to use affect or effect is a dilemma that's stymied many a deadline-driven writer, because the affect/effect rules are really hard to remember, even for pro writers--maybe because they don't lend well to a catchy mnemonic device. Referring to a style guide, such as The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, would swiftly resolve the matter, but sometimes writers don't have time or forget to check. Hence the existence of copy editors and proofreaders who should catch these kinds of subtle mistakes most people never even notice.

As you can see, highlighted in the above screen shot, the last sentence of graph twelve reads, "She was experiencing other affects, too." Interestingly, in the preceding paragraph, the word "affect" is used correctly--as a verb meaning "to influence or change," according to page 10 of the Times style manual. An argument can be made that affects is the correct word choice in the above sentence because it's being used as a noun meaning "an emotional response or feeling," as is noted on page 11 of the Times style manual. It's plausible somebody living next to an eruption-happy volcano could be experiencing feelings of fright or concern. But the very next line of the article shoots a bunch of holes in that theory:

The woman quoted here explains the effects (not affects) or physical "results or consequences" the volcanic ash in the air had on her eyes. Affect/effect confusion is a common problem and this is a subtle mistake that only the most alert readers catch, but it's certainly a mistake that should've been caught by someone at the A.P. or Yahoo! News.

The Proofreader thanks Stan Kost for submitting the mistake.

Misspelling Blagojevich Week: 8th Circle of Hell

Wait, it's been seven days! How long can this week go on? Too long. Probably all month and maybe next month, too. Nevertheless, we soldier on into the eighth circle of hell here in Misspelling Blagojevich Week. The blunders were many, but, finally, an end is in sight. Till then, behold today's misspelling, found in an Associated Press article on Yahoo! News and countless other Web sites.


The mistake appears twice in the third and fifth graphs of an article dated January 7, 2009, as you can see highlighted in the screen shot above. This story was syndicated to numerous newspapers and Web sites around the country, as you can see from this search of the article's title. Interestingly, Yahoo! News editors, along with many others, eventually caught and corrected the gaffe. However, other news sources weren't as thorough (or lucky) and the mistakes still live in many places, such as here on the Web site of the Chicago Sun-Times, as you can see in the screen shot below, and on the Web site of ABC 13, the local news station in Houston.

The prevalence of this mistake is staggering, since it's probably not a typo. The A and O keys are situated at opposite ends of the keyboard. Equally as staggering is the apparent lack of knowledge regarding how to correctly spell Blagojevich among professional copy editors and proofreaders. Ah, he's been at the center of one of the biggest political scandals in years. They shouldn't be making this mistake.