Deck's diary account of the Grand Canyon incident was submitted as evidence in court. It says the two men climbed Desert View Watchtower while on holiday from their typo-enforcement duties "and discovered a hand-rendered sign inside that, I regret to report, had a few errors. I know today was supposed to be my day off from typo-hunting, but if I may be permitted to quote that most revered of android law enforcers, Inspector Gadget, 'Always on duty!' I can't shut it off. . . . Will we never be free from the shackles of apostrophic misunderstanding, even in a place surrounded by natural beauty?"In their quest to rid the world of typos, Jeff Deck and Ben Herson "used a white-out product and a permanent marker to deface a sign painted more than 60 years ago by artist Mary Colter." A historic landmark. It'll cost 'em over $3,000 to compensate the park service for the fix, and they're banned from entering national parks for a year.
After correcting a misplaced apostrophe and comma, Deck reported, he was aghast to discover what he described as a made-up word: "emense."
"I was reluctant to disfigure the sign any further, so we had to let the other typo stand. Still, I think I shall be haunted by that perversity."
I shudder to think how those morons would react if they stumbled across the only surviving copy of A Table Alphabeticall.
[via Obscure Store]
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