# Is the clumsy typo on the New York Times frontpage indicative of deeper problems or no big deal?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-clumsy-typo-on-the-new-york-times-frontpage-indicative-of-deeper-problems-or-no-big-deal/701966
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 21, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-clumsy-typo-on-the-new-york-times-frontpage-indicative-of-deeper-problems-or-no-big-deal/701966 "2014-10-21T00:36:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2014, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-clumsy-typo-on-the-new-york-times-frontpage-indicative-of-deeper-problems-or-no-big-deal/701966/21 "2014-10-22T05:19:44Z")
And there are some these days who think that being prescriptivist with grammar is racist/classist, since that POV tends to run afoul of dialects most common in non-Caucasian cultures within America.
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### Author:  [@JoannaDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoannaDee)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2014, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-clumsy-typo-on-the-new-york-times-frontpage-indicative-of-deeper-problems-or-no-big-deal/701966/22 "2014-10-22T05:47:26Z")
Newspapers are supposed to be perfect in this respect, and as maybe the biggest paper in the world for them to make two big errors so soon is a pretty big deal.
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### Author:  [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2014, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-clumsy-typo-on-the-new-york-times-frontpage-indicative-of-deeper-problems-or-no-big-deal/701966/23 "2014-10-22T10:33:39Z")
Good Lord, I have read the headline at least 10 times without getting the typo, until I saw the werewolf comment and went back an eleventh time. Granted, English is not my native language, but still…
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-clumsy-typo-on-the-new-york-times-frontpage-indicative-of-deeper-problems-or-no-big-deal/701966/24 "2014-10-22T15:33:13Z")
Context really matters here. The Huffington Post has a special hatred for the _Times_, probably because the _Times_ is old media and I’m sure has said nasty things about the “journalism” there. So they spend every minute scrutinizing the _Times_ for any nasty things they can say back. [Slate.com](http://Slate.com) does the same thing.
That doesn’t lessen the problem with front page typos; it does mean that somebody is always looking. Nobody is looking at the HP for its errors in the same way. For all we know they make a dozen every day.
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### Author:  [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-clumsy-typo-on-the-new-york-times-frontpage-indicative-of-deeper-problems-or-no-big-deal/701966/25 "2014-10-22T15:37:46Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> It’s not a typo: they’re talking about were-Ebola, which is where you turn into the Ebola virus during a full moon.
There Ebola. There castle.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-clumsy-typo-on-the-new-york-times-frontpage-indicative-of-deeper-problems-or-no-big-deal/701966/26 "2014-10-22T16:13:50Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Context really matters here. The Huffington Post has a special hatred for the _Times_, probably because the _Times_ is old media and I’m sure has said nasty things about the “journalism” there. So they spend every minute scrutinizing the _Times_ for any nasty things they can say back. [Slate.com](http://Slate.com) does the same thing.
>
> That doesn’t lessen the problem with front page typos; it does mean that somebody is always looking. Nobody is looking at the HP for its errors in the same way. For all we know they make a dozen every day.
And when you’re online, it’s a lot easier to just fix a typo and get on with your day.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-clumsy-typo-on-the-new-york-times-frontpage-indicative-of-deeper-problems-or-no-big-deal/701966/27 "2014-10-22T16:15:04Z")
In the olde days, there were proof readers to catch errors in the copy AND errors inserted by the type-setters. And nowadays, there are no type-setters and copy writers have spell checkers. So there aren’t proof readers.
Its a sine of the thymes.
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