A Funny Story About Typos

If you know me at all, you know I am a huge fan of Terry Pratchett, mayherestinpeace.

If you aren't familiar, he wrote the Discworld series. "Series" is a bit of a misnomer, because each of the 41 novels can be enjoyed on its own, as a stand-alone story. (You can read them in any order, but most fans agree not to start with the first one, The Colour of Magic.)

All the stories are linked, and they're all set in this magical place: a geological pizza gently spinning on the backs of four giant elephants, which themselves stand on the shell of Great A'Tuin, the sky turtle.

"Maskerade" is the eighteenth Discworld book, and the fifth one about the witches. It's about the opera, and it does what Pratchett always does: it takes something from our world and turns it on its head so we can laugh at it. Wyrd Sisters riffs off Shakespeare. The Truth is a satirical look at journalism. The books about Vimes and the nightwatch are probably the best police procedurals you will ever read.

Granny Weatherwax is my favourite literary character of all time. Maskerade includes a bit where she plays a hand of cards against the Grim Reaper, who is really not such a bad old stick.

That's is not my favourite part of the book, though. This is my favourite part:

His chief printer entered, clutching a sheaf of proofs. “We’re going to have to get Mr. Cripslock to engrave page 11 again,” he said mournfully. “He’s spelled ‘famine’ with seven letters–”

–Terry Pratchett, Maskerade

The thing you need to know about Sir Terry is, he was a bugger for an Easter Egg. A nerd in the very best way, he buried little in-jokes and nods-and-winks all the way through his stories.* This is one of those. He is referencing a typo in one of his own books.

Namely, Good Omens, a book he wrote with Neil Gaiman. (It's since made into a TV series, which wasn't bad, and then milked for a second series, which wasn't as good, and then tarnished with some unpleasant stories circulating. But I digress.) Good Omens is all about the end of the world, and as such, it features the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Each of the Horsemen (or Women, as the case may be) is introduced to us in a scene that shows us how they have moved with the times. They are still recognisable, even without us being told explicitly, straight away, who they are. (A neat bit of showing, not telling.) When "Sable" signs for his package, he signs with his real name "one word, seven letters, rhymes with examine".

Go ahead, count the letters in "famine".

The first several editions didn't have this mistake, so why some silly bugger changed it from "six" to "seven" is anybody's guess. None of the horsemen have seven-letter names. Maybe someone thought "seven" just sounded cooler than six?

The thing is, I didn't live in his house and I don't know his immediate reaction when he learned that the new edition of the book contained this error. Ultimately though, he seemed to deal with it in the most Pratchettarian way possible: with a laugh, and a "that's people for you". And then he did what any writer would immediately understand: he put it in a story.

If ever you're reading "The Truth", when you get to this bit, now you'll know that this was Sir Terry poking fun at a mistake in his own book.

The point is, as meticulous as we try to be about proofreading, human error is still inevitable. It helps to have a sense of humour about it.

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Thank you for reading!

I am fine! I have been in and out of hospital and to lots of appointments lately (not for me! supporting someone else!) so goodbye daily streak! I'll be back on it today/tomorrow.

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*Always read the footnotes.