20 September 2007

My kingdom for a copy editor!

I was flipping through one of Debbie's Cottage Living magazines the other day, and came across a reference to a furnishings designer who started her business working in a "chicken coup". Into my mind flashed a wild series of plausibilities and images. Did this woman's farm experience some sort of Orwellian, Animal Farm-style rebellion, centered, unlikely as it may seem, in the henhouse? Was there an event similar to the planned "great escape" of the movie Chicken Run? Did the poultry simply refuse to be kept down on the farm, after they'd seen Paree?
Obviously, the incongruity-resolution section of my brain kicked in after a few seconds, and I realized that the writer actually meant "chicken coop" and simply either typed it incorrectly (it can happen to the best of us) or substituted a word that looked like it should be pronounced "coop" but really isn't. In either case, the error lent some unintentional humor to the proceedings of an otherwise-routine article about stuff you can buy at Target, plus it just goes to show something about education in the USA.

1 comment:

Willow said...

Every once in a while I come back and read this post and giggle. The scary thing is that NO ONE caught it!