The Phased vs. Fazed Confusion

[Grant Barrett]

I read a lot of fan fiction (looking for new talent) in which phased and
fazed are interchanged (usually phased where fazed should be), but I never
expected to come across it in the Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/magazine/23TVPILOT.html?pagewanted=2

Anders wasn't phased by CBS's call. The funds for just the presentation of
''In the Echo'' were still better than her entire budget for ''Things Behind
the Sun.'' ''It's like making a demo for a record company,'' she says. ''I'm
sure bands say, 'Why can't we just do the record?' But it makes it more
manageable for the network.''

(Another common fan fiction irritation: chuckled. Instead of writing dialog
which is actually funny, the writer simply writes any old thing and then
adds the attribution, "she chuckled." Automatic humor, right?)

Grant