Y'know, there are typos and there are TYPOS!

[Jonathan Lighter]

May not be typo, Joel, just the form "I" for capital "J."

Still funny though.

JL

On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 9:46 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Fwd: Y'know, there are typos and there are TYPOS!
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  From another list, from the NY Post.
>
> (There's something to be said for electronic publishing.)
>
> The OED is OK; how about the excellent Yale Book of Quotations?
>
> But "Philander Chase, who spent 35 years editing the Revolutionary
> War hero's papers," may have tunneled too far into the 18th
> century.  He said (see below) " 'True administration' is probably
> what we would say today, but 'due
> administration' is more what they would have said in the 18th
> century,"   The OED has, under "court leet":
>
>  1604 Act 1 Jas. I, c. 5 To keep Court Leets or Court Barons, for
> the true administration of Iustice, and to the punishing and
> suppressing of offences.
>
> Joel
>
> >Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:24:18 -0600
> >
> >
> http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162009/news/regionalnews/george_denied_his_due_155401.htm
> >
> >GEORGE DENIED HIS DUE / TYPO FOUND ON CITY COURT AFTER 82 YRS.
> >
> >Call it a misquote for the ages.
> >
> >In a stunning slap at the Father of our Country, stone carvers got George
> >Washington's words wrong on the landmark Manhattan Supreme Courthouse, The
> >Post has learned.
> >
> >"The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good
> >government," reads the inscription chiseled in granite above the fluted
> >columns at 60 Centre St.
> >
> >But the nation's first president actually penned the word "due" - not
> "true"
> >- according to centuries-old documents on file at the Library of Congress
> >and National Archives in Washington, DC.
> >
> >The mangled motto adorns one of the world's most recognizable halls of
> >justice, whose imposing Roman facade appears in the movies "The
> Godfather,"
> >"12 Angry Men" and "Miracle on 34th Street," as well as countless episodes
> >of the various "Law & Order" TV series.
> >
> >City and court officials were unaware of the outrageous rewrite until
> >contacted by The Post.
> >
> >"It's a shame," said longtime New York County Clerk Norman Goodman, who
> has
> >worked in the six-sided courthouse since 1969.
> >
> >A spokesman for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which
> >manages the Foley Square building, blamed Boston architect Guy Lowell, who
> >won a 1913 design competition. He died in 1927, the same year the
> courthouse
> >opened.
> >
> >Washington, who took the presidential oath of office at nearby Federal
> Hall,
> >coined the phrase in a Sept. 28, 1789, letter drafting fellow Virginian
> >Edmund Randolph as the nation's first attorney general.
> >
> >Washington expert Philander Chase, who spent 35 years editing the
> >Revolutionary War hero's papers, said the engraved phrase doesn't even
> sound
> >like his style.
> >
> >" 'True administration' is probably what we would say today, but 'due
> >administration' is more what they would have said in the 18th century,"
> said
> >the recently retired University of Virginia professor.
> >
> >James Rees, executive director of Washington's estate and gardens in Mount
> >Vernon, Va., said the bumbled quotation joins a laundry list of slights
> >against the American icon - most notably today's "Presidents Day" holiday,
> >created after Congress changed the observance of his actual Feb. 22
> birthday
> >in 1971.
> >
> >Rees said the court error should be corrected.
> >
> >"Washington was a real stickler for detail. He wasn't one to let small
> >things slide, so it would make a little bit of difference to him that they
> >got this one right," he said.
> >
> >A fix would need approval from the city Landmarks Preservation Commission,
> >which safeguarded the courthouse exterior from alteration in 1966.
> >
> >County Clerk Goodman, whose office distributes brochures about the
> historic
> >building, said he would immediately print new ones noting the mistake.
> >
> >*bruce.golding at nypost.com*
>
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