# Typos that became official? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286 "2018-06-17T20:44:18Z")\ **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:** [June 17, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/1 "2018-06-17T20:44:18Z")
Today I learned about [an Anne McCaffrey collection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Off_the_Unicorn) that was supposed to be titled _Get of the Unicorn_ (meaning “offspring of the unicorn”) but there was a typo in the contract that read _Get Off the Unicorn_. They decided to use the typo as the title. Any other examples of something like this happening? Any where the change of a single letter so completely changed the meaning of the title? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/2 "2018-06-17T21:13:23Z")
Something like that happened to me. I put together an anthology of mystery parodies and titled it _The Defective Detectives_. The publisher made it singular: _The Defective Detective_. I thought that changed potential reader expectations of the book completely. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/3 "2018-06-17T21:13:39Z")
Inglorious Basterds, possibly? There have been various explanations for why “Bastards” is spelled wrong but one of theory is simply that [Tarantino is a bad speller](http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/09/bravo-on-your-diffcult-troubling-work.html) and the typo stuck. For years, AC/DC’s Back in Black listed track 4 as “Given The Dog A Bone”. I think it was first corrected to “Givin” on the 2003 CD reissue. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/4 "2018-06-17T21:17:13Z")
“One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.” ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/5 "2018-06-17T21:22:26Z")
William Faulkner’s name was a typo. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/6 "2018-06-17T21:42:49Z")
Jethro Tull’s first single was released by “Jethro Toe,” but they ignored the mistake and reverted to their true name for subsequent releases, so this doesn’t fit the OP. Is it still considered likely that Nome, Alaska originated as a typo? (A handwritten mark on a map — “Name?”). ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/7 "2018-06-17T22:46:04Z")
Hiram Ulysses Grant became Ulysses S. Grant > [@](#): > > from [Ulysses S. Grant - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant) > Grant’s father wrote to Representative Thomas L. Hamer requesting that he nominate Ulysses to the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York. When a spot opened in March 1839, Hamer nominated the 16-year-old Grant.[20] He mistakenly wrote down “Ulysses S. Grant”, which became his adopted name because West Point could not change the name of the appointee. Harry S. Truman > [@](#): > > from [Harry S. Truman - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman) > While the “S” did not stand for any one name, it was chosen as his middle initial to honor both of his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.[12][13] The initial has been regularly written and printed followed by a period. Elliot S! Maggin > [@](#): > > from [Elliot S. Maggin - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_S._Maggin) > I got into the habit of putting exclamation marks at the end of sentences instead of periods because reproduction on pulp paper was so lousy. So once, by accident, when I signed a script I put the exclamation point after my ‘S’ because I was just used to going to that end of the typewriter at the time. And Julie saw it, and before he told me, he goes into the production room and issues a general order that any mention of Elliot Maggin’s name will be punctuated with an exclamation mark rather than a period from now on until eternity. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2018, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/8 "2018-06-17T22:46:47Z")
The iron in spinach thing. Irony at it’s best. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/9 "2018-06-17T22:48:02Z")
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/10 "2018-06-17T23:03:33Z")
Dwyane Wade. Though not really a typo; depending on where you get your story, either his mother was a heroin addict and, well, messed it up when writing down the name to put on the birth certificate, or his grandmother named him and that’s how she thought it was spelled. . ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/11 "2018-06-17T23:17:13Z")
[del]Orpah[/del] Oprah Winfrey? Although according to her Wikipedia page it was more of a mispronunciation that stuck than a misspelling. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/12 "2018-06-17T23:26:47Z")
Lands’ End. The company was supposed to be Land’s End, but someone made the typo in the logo that wasn’t discovered until the promotional material was printed. They didn’t have the money to redo it, so they changed the company name. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/13 "2018-06-17T23:31:53Z")
The RS-71 became the SR-71. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/14 "2018-06-17T23:58:33Z")
“Lite”. Started with beer. Now you see it everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/15 "2018-06-18T00:27:03Z")
> [@journeyman\_southpaw](#): > > Inglorious Basterds, possibly? There have been various explanations for why “Bastards” is spelled wrong but one of theory is simply that [Tarantino is a bad speller](http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/09/bravo-on-your-diffcult-troubling-work.html) and the typo stuck. I think you forgot Inglourious. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/16 "2018-06-18T00:47:59Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Years ago, there was a Kentucky Derby hopeful named Plugged Nickle; the horse ended up being named the top sprint house of 1980. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/17 "2018-06-18T01:08:32Z")
In the book “Ivanhoe”, Walter Scott named one of the Saxon characters Cedric. “Cedric” isn’t a Saxon name, but “Cerdic” is (or was). Of course, nowadays Cedric seems like a perfectly cromulent name, but it started off as a misspelling. ---
**Author:** ![4d3fect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/4d3fect/32/9728_2.png) [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/18 "2018-06-18T03:15:25Z")
Something about Buttle rings a bell ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/19 "2018-06-18T03:27:24Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > The RS-71 became the SR-71. Is this true? I’ve read this story before, but I seem to recall that it was willfully changed to SR-71, and not just “a typo” or “slip of the tongue.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286/20 "2018-06-18T03:29:36Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The iron in spinach thing. Irony at it’s best. That one also, so far as I can tell, is a myth. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typos-that-became-official/816286.md?page=2)