# How Do They Correct A Headstone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-correct-a-headstone/503909 "2009-07-22T21:26:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-correct-a-headstone/503909/21 "2009-07-24T00:42:15Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > As another strictly hypothetical example, what if the engravers left off a character in the middle of your name? Or put the wrong middle initial, as Gary Mitchell did when he made a headstone that said “James _R._ Kirk”? \* - I’m being facetious here. Before any one points it out, I know it was a pilot episode and Kirk’s middle initial hadn’t been established as “T” until the series was underway. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-correct-a-headstone/503909/22 "2009-07-24T04:42:19Z")
I inderstand that they fixed this big, expensive typo by redoing the whole stone. ![a typo of biblcal proportions by jchiarella](https://a4.pbase.com/g6/33/61633/3/78174205.lIev6UMr.jpg) See the previous image to see the whole grave site. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-correct-a-headstone/503909/23 "2009-07-24T11:13:41Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > I inderstand that they fixed this big, expensive typo by redoing the whole stone. > > [http://www.pbase.com/jchiarella/image/78174205](http://www.pbase.com/jchiarella/image/78174205) > > See the previous image to see the whole grave site. God, I know I just woke up and all, but I just cannot find it. Where’s the “carve-o”? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-correct-a-headstone/503909/24 "2009-07-24T12:11:42Z")
Line 3. > [@](#): > > YOUR PEOPLE \*\*WLL \*\*BE MY PEOPLE ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-correct-a-headstone/503909/25 "2009-07-24T15:16:25Z")
Oh, good lord, nobody’s going to notice that with all the other vertical stuff in that word. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-correct-a-headstone/503909/26 "2009-07-24T15:54:25Z")
If you’re ever at the Met in NYC, you can see that they’ve corrected several of the engraved stones next to the stairway that list the donors. IIRC, they engraved dates at the top of each one, and then clearly filled and fixed it. Wish I could find a photo online. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-correct-a-headstone/503909/27 "2009-07-24T20:41:39Z")
Not a headstone, and not strictly a typo: When the Champaign, Illinois Fire Department building became the Police Department building, they simply carved a semicircle to connect the horizontal lines of the “F” in “CFD” to turn it into a “P.” You can still see the old serifs from the “F” in the “P.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-correct-a-headstone/503909/28 "2009-07-24T21:26:53Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > Not a headstone, and not strictly a typo: When the Champaign, Illinois Fire Department building became the Police Department building, they simply carved a semicircle to connect the horizontal lines of the “F” in “CFD” to turn it into a “P.” You can still see the old serifs from the “F” in the “P.” Not to suggest that stonemasons as a profession aren’t well educated, but I’d be willing to bet that the person in question mastered that changing-an-F-to-another-letter skill after a lot of practice in school. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-correct-a-headstone/503909.md?page=1)