When is a 'Typo', not a typo?

[Elvi]

This topic has been brought about by a discussion between myself and Serpentkiss in another topic:

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=14294.new#new

Well there certainly isn't one of those 'experts' in this house....*grins*
All we do is discuss, prepare and hope for the best....*sighs*

I have to admit, I do like a healthy discussion and I will argue my point until someone actually says something that disproves it.
Contrary to popular believe, I will stand down if they do so. However, when they try and tell me that I am wrong about a personal experience, or quote Wiki as their only source, then it makes me furious.

Oh and we now have spell check on elliquiy, so there is no excuse.
(And I am chuffed to find that I have made a whole post without one single spelling mistake or typo....*grins*)

Quote from: Elvi on Today at 10:59:27
Contrary to popular belief
(And I am chuffed to find that I have made a whole post without one single spelling mistake or typo....*grins*)

Sorry :-[

<snip>

Oh and I hate those pedants who see fit to try and prove someone wrong and actually being wrong themselves ...*grins*

Serpent, it wasn't a spelling mistake nor a typo was it?
I used the wrong word (I didn't change it after altering the sentence it was in)
*pulls faces and makes rude gestures*

I was assuming you'd just made a typo, cos to me, that counts :P

I thought a typo was something that was misspelled because a finger slipped as in:

teh act sat on tweh mst....

Using believe instead of belief is an error in grammar

IMO, a typo can also consist of when someone is typing so fast, or already has the thought planned out in their head as they type, they lose focus and sometimes insert the wrong word. I'm lucky as I have a thing on my PC which highlights bad spelling in red and bad grammar in green, so I can fix it (like changing grammer -> grammar and fixe -> fix just then).

But that just shows that I don't know all, and fall victim ('victum' -_-) to the same traps.

*shrugs*
Perhaps I'm wrong...that's just how I see it..

Now I started thinking about this and came to the conclusion that I was using the word 'Typo' in it's literal sense.
(As in Typographical error, where the type setter or typist, makes a slip of the finger and the word is omitted or missformed, like the classic 'teh'.)
Though Serpent seems to think that it is otherwise, which made me believe that it was the 'old fogie' in me, who hasn't caught onto yet another change of word usage.

I've had a look around the old web thingumy and ignoring sites that are solely dealing in printing terms, as well as the dreaded wiki....*shudders*, the only thing that I can find seems to agree with me...

http://www.wisegeek.com/whatsit.HTML

A typographical error or typo is a mistake made by accident while typing or transcribing something. Most people distinguish between accidental errors like typos and errors of ignorance like poor spelling and grammar. These errors are extremely common, and very frustrating for editors since they can sometimes hide well enough that they are not caught before publication. Some typing errors are so common that they have become running jokes in some communities; “teh” is sometimes used for “the,” for example, since many people transpose these letters so frequently.

Spelling and grammar errors are not considered typos because they are not typographical errors, they are signs of ignorance in which the typist's mind, rather than the printed material, must be corrected. In some cases, someone will type a homophone for a word by mistake, in which case the error may be referred to as a “thinko,” acknowledging that the error is grammatical in nature, but caused by a genuine mistake. Some common thinkos include the substitution of its for it's, or there for their, and vice versa.

So what do others think?
Are we just generalising everything into one generic word, or are people excusing themselves and their poor grammar, by just saying 'OH it was a typo'?


(Modified to add link from other topic)

[kongming]

I usually consider a typo to be a typographical error - a finger slip. Such as when I almost typed dinger slip just then.

That being said, when reading I don't notice a lot of errors - that's why I have difficulty spell-checking my own work (or anyone else's) without slowly and carefully going over it, instead relying on noticing a mistake (an actual typo) as I make it. Unless someone types rouge instead of rogue, because I always check for that, it's just so common. On the WotC boards, it's a running joke.

So I don't call it a typo when someone uses the wrong word, or the wrong spelling. I generally don't care, seeing as I'm sure we're all grown-ups who can forgive mistakes whether they come from the finger or the brain (and I know the thread isn't about that), but that's not the term I use.

The classic typo:
"I touch-type, so I can communicate really fast without making any tyops."

[SerpentKiss]

I stand corrected....

Though I like the idea of calling it a thinko. I just always categorize all things as a typo, as in 'n error made whilst typing, no matter the cause'. But I suppose it has to start at the brain and, in the case of the example myself and Elvi discussed about 'belief/believe'.

You wouldn't write the word 'teh' with a pen, clearly marking it as a typographical only error, but if Elvi had written that sentence on paper and still but believe instead of belief that is a common mistake, and could happen on any method of writing, not just whilst typing.

It is an interesting topic to bring up, and now seems to make a lot more sense.

[Elvi]

Oh I'm not 'having a go' at anyone Kong, otherwise this would have been put in rants.
As Serpent just said, it was something that we were talking about and I wondered if the usage of typo had changed...

(And yes, I really like the term 'thinko' too, it makes a lot more sense to me.)

Using believe instead of belief wouldn't have happened if I had written it long hand.
I had typed a sentence and deleted part of it because it hadn't made sense, my alternative should have had belief but I omitted to change it, in long hand I would have had to Cross the sentence out and start again....

Having said that though, there are a lot of words which are missused.
Two that spring to mind, (and often used on these boards), are then instead of than and dominate instead of dominant.

[SerpentKiss]

Uhhh...crap...I was in the chat and forgot what i was going to say...I don't even remember hitting reply.....uhhhh...yeah *waves bye to his post*

[Monica]

In terms of analysis, sure, it's a grammatical error, not a typographical error, but when it comes to actual editting procedure (which I know more than two things about), it doesn't particularly matter. A typo, in this sense, is anything that has gone awry with punctuation, grammar, spelling, it doesn't make a different. Really it depends on how stuck you are at the anal stage of psychosexual development, I suppose. :P

[Josh the Aspie]

Unless someone types rouge instead of rogue, because I always check for that, it's just so common. On the WotC boards, it's a running joke.

Personally I view this as an alternate spelling more in line with how the word is pronounced. It's not the standardized spelling no, of course.

[Strong Angel]

This makes me think of diagramming sentences ;D But that's a lost art...  I will suggest it is the sender's responsibility to ensure accuracy (presumably, they would prefer to be found valid if scrutinized), though in the case of friendly forumming (that might be a typo, but ) the message's intent should be the accepted priority.  This, of course gives open typographical license to use words such as "forumming" or appending "-icity" or "-ish" as necessary.

[Elvi]

But they would not be typographical errors, because you have not put them there by mistake...*smiles*

[TomSawyer]

I think it was Sabbat and I having a variation of this conversation in the IRC channel.

I hate the 'word' "pwn" because it was originally a typo, and yet has been adopted in the vernacular as an actual 'word' now (at least to those not like me who insist on using quotes to express sarcasm at the idea that it might be considered an actual word).

So this poses a new question. When does a typo become a an actual word?

[Nimue]

I believe it is only a thinko when you actually think to use the word incorrectly in the sentence. In Elvi's case, she deleted part of the text (a word processing function) and neglected to delete a word that she clearly knows did not belong grammatically. If she had somehow neglected to think about what she was writing, or was writing very quickly and experienced a freudian slip, then perhaps that would be considered a thinko and not a typo. The way I see it, the error was in the editing and the word processing, not the thinking.