# Book titles with deliberate or meaningful misspellings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [March 27, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476 "2024-03-27T20:19:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/1 "2024-03-27T20:19:09Z")
Two that come to mind: _Pet Sematary_ by Stephen King and _Rainbows End_ by Vernor Vinge, both of which have a plot-specific meaning. Other examples? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/2 "2024-03-27T20:23:43Z")
Finnegans Wake. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/3 "2024-03-27T20:28:50Z")
Feersum Endjinn, by Iain M Banks, is spelled that way because a good part of the book is the diary of a young man who spells phonetically. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/4 "2024-03-27T20:42:02Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > …_Rainbows End_ by Vernor Vinge… Maybe I am missing something but how is that misspelled? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/5 "2024-03-27T20:50:09Z")
This was a novel about cloning titled _Joshua, son of None_. The Joshua of the Bible was the son of a man named Nun. The character in the title had the full name of Joshua Francis Kellogg, heh, heh. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/6 "2024-03-27T20:52:35Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Maybe I am missing something but how is that misspelled? It should be Rainbow’s End. (RIP, Vernor Vinge) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/7 "2024-03-27T20:53:17Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Maybe I am missing something but how is that misspelled? The book revolves around a retirement home named Rainbows End. A line from the book: > (He’d never been able to decide if that spelling was the work of an everyday illiterate or someone who really understood the place.) “Ranbow’s End” is a location. “Rainbows end” is a statement. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/8 "2024-03-27T20:54:32Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > It should be Rainbow’s End. Oh, okay, a perceived grammar, not a spelling error. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/9 "2024-03-27T21:05:16Z")
_Inglourious Basterds_ (initially a film) has been novelised, so that counts, I suppose. And _The Pursuit of Happyness_ was a book before it was a film, so that definitely counts. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/10 "2024-03-27T21:10:43Z")
_Reamde_ An unreamdable book. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/11 "2024-03-27T22:04:00Z")
Goodreads has a list of 168 books with deliberately misspelled titles. I think all the books mentioned so far in this thread are on it. > **[Deliberately Misspelt Titles (168 books)](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/139481.Deliberately_Misspelt_Titles)** > > 168 books based on 28 votes: Pet Sematary by Stephen King, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange, Th... ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/12 "2024-03-27T22:17:45Z")
Please forgive my ramblings in this post, but this has bothered me for ages and now I’m going to bother _you_ with it: The title of Stephen King’s, “‘Salem’s Lot,” has always seemed problematic to me — the titular town is called Jerusalem’s Lot (since, apparently, the 17th[?] century), so if you _contraction_ it you’d have, “‘salem’s Lot,” which nobody would pronounce “SAY-lum’s” (more like “suh-LUM’s”). In addition, everyone who lives there or in the surrounding towns — like Castle Rock or Derry — calls it The Lot. Anyone taking an unfortunate detour would be looking for Jerusalem’s Lot on their map and if they asked for directions no one would say SAY-lum’s Lot (or “suh-LUM’s,” for that matter), they’d say **The Lot’s gone bad!** and fork the **Evil Eye** in their direction. All that was to say this: I had some bad Lima beans for lunch and I’m rambling.🤪 BTW, does anyone know of a town/city that does use that type of contraction, IRL? Appreciate it, ayuh. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/13 "2024-03-27T22:25:30Z")
Well known colloquialisms shouldn’t count (“them thar hills,” “whodunit”). I have spoken. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/14 "2024-03-27T22:32:40Z")
Does Haruki Murakami’s [_1Q84_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Q84) count? I never could make up my mind whether the title was misspelled (miscounted?) or had a deeper meaning that eluded me. Was a great read nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/15 "2024-03-27T22:41:13Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I never could make up my mind whether the title was misspelled (miscounted?) or had a deeper meaning that eluded me. > _1Q84_’s title references the novel _[Nineteen Eighty-four](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nineteen-Eighty-four)_, a dystopian tale by [George Orwell](https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell). Upon realizing that she has entered a universe parallel to her own, Aomame renames the year 1Q84, with Q representing a question mark. In Japanese the novel’s title is pronounced “1984,” as the characters Q and 9 are homonyms. From: > **[1Q84 by Haruki Murakami | Summary, Reception, & Facts | Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/topic/1Q84)** > > 1Q84, novel by Haruki Murakami, published in three volumes in 2009–10. Set in Tokyo in an alternate version of the year 1984, Murakami’s reality-bending novel explores star-crossed lovers Aomame and Tengo’s involvement with a mysterious cult.... It counts to me. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/16 "2024-03-27T22:51:08Z")
Yes, the reference to Orwell was evident, but I did not know that 9 and Q were homonymous in Japanese. Clever! I should have google’d it myself, thanks for the effort! Did Aomame state it like that in the novel itself, or did Murakami explain it somewhere else? The book is long and full of quirks, it may have escaped my attention. Or I may have forgotten it, I read it some time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/17 "2024-03-27T22:53:41Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Yes, the reference to Orwell was evident, but I did not know that 9 and Q were homonymous in Japanese. Clever! Japanese numbers are well suited for untranslatable wordplay. > **[Goroawase Number - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoroawaseNumber)** > > Numbers in Japanese don't have a single pronunciation: both kun'yomi (native Japanese) and on'yomi (Chinese-derived) readings are commonly used. Japanese speakers take advantage of these different phonetic readings, mixing them freely to produce … ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/18 "2024-03-27T22:57:35Z")
The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey by Douglas Brinkley Story of a professor taking a class out on the road for six weeks studying American art and culture. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/19 "2024-03-27T23:00:13Z")
From your link: Japanese 9, On’yomi reading: kyū, ku → Q, English: nain\* Lovely! But they don’t include 1Q84 in the examples under “Literature”. Nais! I mean: nice! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476/20 "2024-03-28T01:33:41Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > All that was to say this: I had some bad Lima beans for lunch and I’m rambling. I like to hear you. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-titles-with-deliberate-or-meaningful-misspellings/999476.md?page=2)