Pedant glee

You know what gives me a little fix of glee? When I find a spelling error on The Age online. I know, it's terribly pedantic of me, but I can't help it. It's not a pure kind of glee - it's more schadenfreudish* (because, ahem, it's not as if I have ever made an error in any of my blogs).

I've spotted a few clangers recently. On Friday, The Age reported Aussie acting legend Charles 'Bud' Tingwell had "succumbed to prostrate cancer". Not a gleeful topic, of course, and I was saddened to read the news, but I also did give a little hoot when I saw the error. Twits. They very quickly fixed it, however.

I also recently saw they had used the word loathe instead of loath (as in reluctant). It's a very common boo-boo, but....c'mon. I expect better from The Age.

Of course, finding a slip-up in the actual newspaper is more gleeful again, but less common (partly because I only buy it on weekends).

* It's sometimes said the English language has no equivalent word for the German schadenfreude but it does...or at least it did. Epicharicacy disappeared from dictionaries in the 19th Century, according to Ammon Shea's book Reading the OED.

PS. I know I should proof read this post far more thoroughly than usual, but I am tired and lazy.