5 Typos That Broke the Bank
Missing 'L' Costs County Money
When an Ottawa County clerk noticed a misspelled word on an election ballot in November 2006, he probably quietly chuckled, until he saw the cost. Leaving out the 'L' in 'public' might have been funny -- if it hadn't ended up costing $40,000 to reprint the ballots.
GPS Typo Makes Swedish Tourists Spend Too Much on Gas
When spelling a word, it's easy to mix up the letters, but most folks notice their error fairly quickly. This past summer, on the other hand, two Swedish tourists who were headed for Capri, Italy made the mistake of typing 'Carpi' into a GPS, and ended up 400 miles away from their destination. With gas prices approaching $6 to $7 a gallon in Europe at the time, it turned out to be an expensive error.
Even if it was close to quitting time, there's still no explanation for why, or how, a Japanese trader sold 610,000 shares of J-Com Co. for 1 yen instead of selling, as he'd intended, 1 share for 610,000 yen. In total, he cost his company $340 million back in September of 2006.
Typos Sends Woman to Puerto Rico Instead of Costa Rica
In February, a travel agent mistyped an airport code and sent his customer to Puerto Rico instead of Costa Rica. That one letter sent the woman 1,500 miles from her intended destination, costing her a few nights of her vacation and around $1,270, too.
Man Undersells Antique Bottle of Ale on eBay Due to Typo
In September 2007, a man listed an antique bottle of ale on eBay and misspelled its name. Instead of typing 'Allsopp's Arctic Ale,' he typed 'Allsop's,' royally confusing collectors. One lucky (and smart) bidder won the 150-year-old bottle of booze for $304 and sold it right away for $503,300. That one forgotten letter cost the original seller quite a chunk of change.
Wacky Sign Hacks and Mistakes
In 2008, a group of students at MIT pasted funny "DANGER" signs all around campus. Even the school's Visual Arts Center can't escape the ubiquitous Rickroll.
Hackers, seemingly pushing a pro-green agenda, figured out how to change the messages displayed on signs at the University of Toronto in Canada.
On first glance, this sign appears to offer up a normal set of bilingual directions. If you read Welsh, you may notice the problem -- the bottom translates to "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated." Looks like someone was slacking on the job, and the e-mail away message ended up pasted onto a sign.
This construction sign on the MIT campus was hacked in 2007 to alert drivers first that the sign had been hacked. The sequence was followed with, "Mass ave bridge closed," "Sunday 04/22/07 6am-3pm," and "to appease Godzilla."
This street sign in Reno City, Nevada was modded by the Glenn Group, an advertising company. While at first it doesn't seem to have anything to do with traffic, it may have helped combat road rage.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Petri said 4:15PM on 10-07-2009
GPS Typo Makes British Tourists Spend Too Much on Gas
...This past summer, on the other hand, two Swedish tourists who were headed for Capri...
So, what was the nationality again? British or Swedish?
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ParaPrincess said 6:50AM on 10-09-2009
Look again... it says Swedish tourists in the headline.
Petri said 1:16AM on 10-10-2009
ParaPrincess: Yeah, now it has Swedish + Swedish. But originally it was British + Swedish. This is quote from email I got: "Hey, Thank you for commenting on Switched.com. That post should've read 'Swedish tourists. Thanks for catching!
- The Switsched team." So they fixed their mistake after my comment.
Cleo said 1:01PM on 10-11-2009
it say's swedish twice dirlick!
you must be a stupid Brit!!!!!
BUZO JOE said 7:51AM on 10-09-2009
Come on people. Stop using the comment section here to sell your "work from home" junk. Go out and get a real job instead of sponging off the rest of us while you sleep in late and sit on your couch getting fat all day.
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eskieme1970 said 7:55AM on 10-09-2009
What a dumb article!
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cqdeed said 8:50AM on 10-09-2009
eskieme1970...Have you never heard of humor? Look it up..it could change your whole outlook on life.
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scrtch111 said 9:45AM on 10-09-2009
Anyone with the common sense of a 12 year old will know this is all fiction and apparently a slow news day.
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na2ray8 said 1:59PM on 10-09-2009
Yeah Right...Because NO ONE EVER misspells anything! LMAO
yourprinter said 12:02PM on 10-09-2009
As you can tell I have ben in printing for over 41 years. I have seen more of this kind of typesetting where the customer missed thing that they missed and I have had to say "You signed the Proof OK to Print and that what you wanted". We do run spell check but In doesn't check your mind of the cot you wish to charge.
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beachmeat10 said 1:43PM on 10-09-2009
don't get so defensive- the article didn't blame the printer....
Jussnod1 said 12:51PM on 10-11-2009
You should have considered running 'spellcheck' on your post. I'm afraid it would scare me to do business with a printer who so horribly slaughters spelling him/herself.
tmnofsteel1234 said 1:17PM on 10-11-2009
you should have used spellcheck before you posted this.
Vanessa Lerro said 1:35PM on 10-13-2009
I want to read more!! lol
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listennataiie said 1:23PM on 10-09-2009
This makes me feel so much better! I once accidentally listed a Bugaboo Bee stroller on Amazon for $259.99 instead of the MSRP of $529.99. OOPS! I had to cancel 8 orders we received because the company has a very strict pricing policy. It was either lose the sales or lose our Bugaboo account!
Needless to say the boss wasn't thrilled. I'm amazed I still have a job! =)
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anniesnew said 2:14PM on 10-09-2009
i was in wal-mart yesterday and turkeys in the meat dept. were suppose to be $1.96 per pound, but they were selling for $1.96.......
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Ches said 6:11AM on 10-11-2009
It's because no one proofreads any more. I think editors have all but died out. In every article I click these days, I notice at least one typo. Often, I notice ghastly mistakes even in the headlines. And here, "Typos Sends Woman..." Subject-verb agreement must have been glossed over, I guess.
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syl1969 said 9:56AM on 10-11-2009
I agree with you Ches. They don't want to pay editors and proof-readers. Our local paper is worse than my high school paper EVER was! I can't believe the "journalists" went to, (and I'm assuming graduated) college!! Obit the other day read, "He is survived by his brother and wife-in-law." I mean, really!
Lawrence said 12:09PM on 10-14-2009
Do you work in journalism? What a silly comment. I think you'll find everyone and their dog wants to get their opinions across (esp. Americans) online, either by blog or comments in forums. Editing is done by sub-editors or senior reporters in the case of newspapers and magazine alike, editors are more concerned by content. I believe what you were thinking of is "people don't know how to form proper sentences".
Pat said 8:04AM on 10-11-2009
Have seen more typos since the 1990s than ever before. People have become careless...or they don't care. Can't even read a published book without finding errors...including textbooks. I have always proofread as I typed. I don't use spell-check because I don't trust it. If not sure of a spelling, I ALWAYS look up the word in the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition) ...a necessity in one's personal reference library. Too often I hear: "It's no big deal"..."Who cares if it's misspelled?"..."It's the thought that's important--NOT the spelling or the typos." Unbelievable. Have pride in your work (all of it)!!!
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