Best. typo. ever (at least in a poem from a tiny college in the south)

[ShadowFacts]

@Hypno-Toad

You should have left off the “b.”

I know, that was the joke. Too subtle, I guess

[Roland_Orzabal]

@Sampiro

According to one of the editors “I did google some of the entries, but not that one… frankly I didn’t think it was good enough for anybody to have to plagiarize it.”

God, what an asshole.

[ZipperJJ]

@Roland Orzabal

God, what an asshole.

Did you mean for that to be a joke? Because that was absolutely BRILLIANT.

[Cervaise]

@Marley23

That logic is just totally ass-backward.

Cheeky!

[Fretful_Porpentine]

@Beware of Doug

I suspect the culprit was an OCR program dealing with handwriting - cursive “rm” could very easily become cursive “nu”. Or a xerox (of “Helen Steiner Rice”?). Or deliberate pranksterism.

I had a temp job once at a legal document processing center, and I can attest that OCR programs are more prone to Freudian slips than you’d think.

My absolute favorite involved a malpractice trial about inflatable penile implants. One of the attorneys was named Mr. Shaller. As a rule, the OCR program didn’t have too much trouble with this name – except on the page where the attorneys were having a Very Serious Legal Discussion about penis size. There, it was rendered three times as “Mr. Smaller”

[Hypno-Toad]

@ShadowFacts

I know, that was the joke. Too subtle, I guess

I’m really anal about some things.

[Roland_Orzabal]

@ZipperJJ

Did you mean for that to be a joke? Because that was absolutely BRILLIANT.

I did, and thanks.

[Celyn]

@Sampiro

… one student turned in a poem for an English class and even entered it in the yearly poetry competition here. …

Okay, epilogue:

Worst part- the student won an award for the original version of the poem- and it’s completely plagiarized. Another student recognized it immediately as something read at a relative’s funeral and it turns out it’s all over the Internet. At least now— it’s a lot more original. (The student, like the subject of “his” poem, is in over his head in deep shit.)

That’s all pretty scary. That the plagiarising bastard of a student should have the cheek to enter that yukky glurge in a competition (heck, even to submit it to the English class) is alarming, but that the student actually won some sort of prize for this? Oh dear. :eek:

Right, I reckon I’ll just go and plagiarise a few works of William McGonagall then, and see what I can win. I look forward to a life of literary acclaim and book festivals.

[eleanorigby]

@ShadowFacts

This kid’s version is even more banal than the original.

I don’t think you need that “b”…
:smack: Damn. Too late.