Comments on: So, how do you spell it?

So, how do you spell it?

jourman2 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:37:24 -0800

Freakonomics coauthor/blogger writes about a "spelling mistake" the Economist made in a recent issue. He is corrected within 5 minutes. The Economist responds to his "correction".

By: TedW

TedW — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:43:10 -0800

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:47:12 -0800

Today I learned about Murphry's Law. That was worth reading part of the linked articles.

By: le morte de bea arthur

le morte de bea arthur — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:48:03 -0800

Damn you (and my Cornish genes)! I need a pastie now.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:51:13 -0800

Delicious and supportive! That is a technology I hope to grasp.

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:51:34 -0800

Obviously the Economist meant "pastry"!!!

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:51:44 -0800

Correction: The Economist was right. Ok, will you send me one now?

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:53:18 -0800

Dood, Yoo lyke, totally mizpelled 'Muphry's Law'.

By: debord

debord — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:58:49 -0800

Pasty in the post. Classic. I miss a good pasty. If you're hunting the real thing Philps in Hayle, Cornwall is quite nice. My favourite pasty shop closed a couple of years ago now. It was a tragedy.

By: Mutant

Mutant — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:08:06 -0800

By: DU

DU — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:08:23 -0800

How has no one remarked on the real error in that quote: In the hills north east of Mexico City... "Northeast" is one word.

By: jbickers

jbickers — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:10:50 -0800

I thought this was gonna be about Cornish panties for sale. Darn.

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:12:43 -0800

I need to find some typographical "errors" about cinnamon rolls to correct.

By: Banky_Edwards

Banky_Edwards — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:15:58 -0800

Wait a minute, was Tom Waits actually singing about British foodstuffs in "Pasties & A G-String?"

By: DangerIsMyMiddleName

DangerIsMyMiddleName — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:31:24 -0800

If only he was, Banky, but it's a different pronunciation. Cornish Pasties sound like "past", Pasties-as-in-stripper-wear sound like "paste". Roughly, anyway.

By: ryanrs

ryanrs — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:46:37 -0800

Were he a true pedant, he would have first looked up "pasties" in the OED—just so he could say he had.

By: subgear

subgear — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:55:22 -0800

Spells like team sprite.

By: ewkpates

ewkpates — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:00:05 -0800

We now also know how to spell "class act". It's either Freakonomics or the Economist. Well, if you didn't already know...

By: kcds

kcds — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:04:59 -0800

I love the way he confidently writes that "They meant to write pastries", while still being completely wrong. He knew what they meant. Also, it's one thing to be ignorant about the delicacies of another country (although it's not as though the UK is that foreign to most USians), it's quite another to be ignorant about your own.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:13:37 -0800

There are many types of pasties... not all of them are Cornish.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:14:06 -0800

You meant to write Canada there.

By: cogneuro

cogneuro — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:22:17 -0800

There's more to it. Confronted with the error, Dubner compounded it by conjecturing, wrongly, that pasties and pastrys are etymologically related.

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:30:17 -0800

The editors, sub editors, copy editors, fact checkers and proof readers at the NYTimes didn't know better? Granted, it has gone down hill badly in recent years, but still.

By: iamkimiam

iamkimiam — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:39:11 -0800

This American Life just aired an episode called "A Little Bit of Knowledge", about adults being blatantly wrong about or unaware of common knowledge bits, often learned incorrectly since childhood, and then making foolish and/or enlightening discoveries. This is a great example of modern jackass. Completely forgivable and hilarious.

By: These Premises Are Alarmed

These Premises Are Alarmed — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:41:39 -0800

We had the exact same thing happen at a previous job; it was a publishing website and one of our support guys forwarded around an article called "Cornish Pasties Recipe" with a subject implying it was a hilarious typo. I didn't get it and made him explain it to me. I guess he spends more time in strip clubs and less time eating tasty treats. All the same I stopped reading Freakonomics after they removed the full feed. I'm already a NYT subscriber, dammit! They could at least give me that. Also, Steven Levy is speaking at HOPE this weekend. See you there.

By: These Premises Are Alarmed

These Premises Are Alarmed — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:42:56 -0800

I was just explaining "Modern Jackass" to my wife last night after I called a guy's sweatshirt in a commercial on TV a "Moorish Pattern". God I'm a jackass.

By: edd

edd — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:47:54 -0800

"Confronted with the error, Dubner compounded it by conjecturing, wrongly, that pasties and pastrys are etymologically related." - cogneuro "the two are etymologically related" - cogneuro's link. I think there should be a prise to the first person not to make an error in this thread.

By: grubi

grubi — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:56:36 -0800

Freakonomist?

By: le morte de bea arthur

le morte de bea arthur — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:57:31 -0800

Yep. I said 'pastie' instead of 'pasty'. And I'm Cornish. As penance, here's where to go for the best of the best (don't tell my mother).

By: Dormant Gorilla

Dormant Gorilla — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:11:43 -0800

This thread is worthwhile if only because I learned about this "modern jackass" thing. I'm in the urban dictionary!

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:12:03 -0800

Figure I'm going to write an article criticizing Apple for misspelling "Macbook Preau" and see what I get in the mail.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:18:52 -0800

If someone would have begged a question at some point in the whole affair.

By: matthewr

matthewr — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:24:28 -0800

One can only hope Dubner's theories on economics are researched more throughly than this might indicate; simply typing cornish pasties into google would have returned 184K hits, and the summary for the first - Wikipedia - would have corroborated The Economist's spelling. Dubner doesn't have any economic theories — he's a journalist, not an economist. Levitt is the brains of the outfit. Simply typing Stephen Dubner into Wikipedia would have told you this.

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:28:27 -0800

Pastyman™ sends these hand made pasties straight to your door with Guaranteed Before 12 Midday Delivery. However only for the UK by the looks of things.

By: DU

DU — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:28:57 -0800

Why modern jackass? Bowler Hat #1: What know you of these vita-mins? Bowler Hat #2: Quite efficacious in preventing the spread of scurvy, what ho! Bowler Hat #1: Pray, by what ingenious contrivance is this made to occur? Bowler Hat #2: insert pre-modern jackass line

By: drezdn

drezdn — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:33:50 -0800

If someone would have begged a question at some point in the whole affair. That's what I get for watching the whole All Star Game... If someone would have begged a question at some point in the whole affair, things would have went nuclear.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:34:35 -0800

I wonder how I can put some tabs in a box so I can send some to these fucking reporters who keep tabulating tables with spaces.

By: DU

DU — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:37:40 -0800

If someone would OF begged a question at some point in the whole affair, things would OF went nuCULAr. FTYF

By: danb

danb — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:46:32 -0800

llo

By: cellphone

cellphone — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:48:15 -0800

A mildly amusing typo is best of the web?

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:49:17 -0800

The editors, sub editors, copy editors, fact checkers and proof readers at the NYTimes didn't know better? Granted, it has gone down hill badly in recent years, but still. I think that none of those people work on the NYT Website. Many of them are annoyed at being associated with it, even in name only. Some of them are also not allowed to do anything to columnists' work in the print edition.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:55:42 -0800

Some annoyed copy editors

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:57:01 -0800

To add to the breastariffic double entendre - pasties for your knockers!

By: davemee

davemee — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:59:34 -0800

Christ, what an arsehole.

By: penguinliz

penguinliz — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:04:23 -0800

Now I am seriously craving a pastie. Preferably from Ye Olde Pastie Shoppe, where I spent a large part of my childhood queueing for a meat and potato pastie and a vanilla slice. What mistake do I have to make to get The Economist to post me one of those?

By: alexwoods

alexwoods — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:15:24 -0800

See here for a highly recommended recipe for the unfortunately named Cholera, the Vaudois answer to the pasty. I have always liked pasties and meat pies of all kinds (having been raised on tourtiere) and this is one of the very best. The recipe is accompanied by a Swiss gourmet's thoughts about the Cornish version. From FX Cuisine, king of the food bloggers.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:15:50 -0800

The Economist should have sent him that pastie after it had been digested.

By: Skorgu

Skorgu — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:22:07 -0800

July 16, 2008 The Economist Group The Economist Building 111 West 57th Street New York NY 10019 USA Sir, On behalf of all right thinking people everywhere allow me to congratulate you on your victory. You will delight to hear that you have won a prize of One (1) Internet. You may confirm your receipt of this notification and retrieve your prize at one of our many branch locations. Sincerely, Skorgu Eatbagadicks Accounts Manager The Internets Inc. LLC PLC It's Prussian.

By: Bugg

Bugg — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:25:42 -0800

A mildly amusing typo is best of the web? --cellphone I was thinking the same, but The Economist's response makes the post for me. Very well played on their part. Also, obligatory xkcd link.

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:29:13 -0800

If someone would have begged a question at some point in the whole affair, things would have went nuclear. If someone had begged.....

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:52:05 -0800

I need to find some typographical "errors" about cinnamon rolls to correct. Jacqueline, you must have meant cinnamon roles, i.e., the various tasks and responsbilities that people involved in the cinnamon industry have to carry out.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:53:28 -0800

No, you were right, Jacqueline; my mistake! (I can has sinamin rolz nau?)

By: Dave Faris

Dave Faris — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:07:13 -0800

Man makes a mistake. Full coverage, plus Norm with the 5-day, at 11.

By: beelzbubba

beelzbubba — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:07:53 -0800

I am sure glad that NPR defined/coined the term "modern jackass." I am also sure that 90% of my high school class can imagine my picture next to the definition. I got better. But it is still a family trait, and when klangklangston & I get together, it can be confusing to outsiders as to who is the ~~bigger~~ more modern jackass.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:37:48 -0800

YANKZONE

By: omarr

omarr — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:42:02 -0800

For as much as my Economist subscription costs I with they'd send me a Cornish pasty every once in a while.

By: The Straightener

The Straightener — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:42:36 -0800

I'd hit it.

By: Bovine Love

Bovine Love — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:47:42 -0800

This is, hopefully, a mistake free post.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:56:54 -0800

Poor Freakonomist, all he needed to do was whip out some post hoc defense for his mistake.

By: omarr

omarr — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:02:19 -0800

Er, wish. Damnit.

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:14:01 -0800

Those two are nothing but a waste of time.

By: ethnomethodologist

ethnomethodologist — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:25:34 -0800

What kind of fucking provincial moron doesn't know what a Cornish pasty is? This guy is supposedly educated and not only has he never come across one (they LITTER Wisconsin and upper Michigan and I'm sure they're available all over North America- right? We have pasties in supermarkets here in Alberta), but when he sees the word he doesn't even bother to look it up? Myles Teddywedger is spinning in his grave.

By: melissam

melissam — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:27:55 -0800

ethnomethodologist , no, the whole Cornish pasty thing seems to end in Wisconsin. I've lived in Illinois for quite some time and I've never seen one here, but maybe they'll invade? I've noticed that cheese curds seem to be spreading south.

By: davejay

davejay — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:34:00 -0800

Someone made a mistake, thinking someone else had made a mistake, and when corrected, they're gracious, as are the people whom he thought had made a mistake but had not. In the process, a bunch of people learn something interesting. How is this interesting, exactly? Oh, yeah -- because usually the media is full of immature people attacking one another and making a big deal over absolutely nothing at all.

By: davejay

davejay — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:35:18 -0800

By: Bovine Love

Bovine Love — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:51:55 -0800

How is this interesting, exactly? The mistake itself is interesting, at least to some of us. I wasn't really aware of the word, nor its pronunciation. I like the (incorrecct) correction in that it was dead on (it was indeed a pastry) yet dead wrong. The give and take was well done and amusing. The visibility and reputations of the hosts added some to the amusment. I guess I am easily amused.

By: shoesietart

shoesietart — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:52:39 -0800

I'm with you davejay. I am familiar with pasties having lived in England but I've never seen them in any of the states I've lived in - California, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma or Texas - so I don't think it's a dish a lot of people are familiar with. I'm in Texas now and what the hell is a kolache? They're everywhere here. A hot dog baked inside a bun (pigs in a blanket?). What the hell?

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:55:14 -0800

The big revelation here for me is that this Freakonomics guy is the worst, most boring blog writer I have ever read. "I noticed some typos today?" Really? Not even a larger point. Just "hey, some typos. huh." Not to mention the fact that he actually used the phrase "Yum!" in earnest.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:21:25 -0800

What kind of fucking provincial moron doesn't know what a Cornish pasty is? Indeed. Even people who've never seen one in the wild should know that they are British empanadas.

By: william_boot

william_boot — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:50:07 -0800

True Story: Dubner once laughed at me because I mispronounced ephemeral.

By: Bovine Love

Bovine Love — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:08:26 -0800

Hey, I have done that too and got laughed at, but only by my g/f and another friend. I have no famous people to laugh at me. My parents worked hard to make me a lot better educated then them (and succeeded). Additionally, I was brought up sans TV. So, I ended up reading a lot of books, building an excellent vocabulary but not having the slightest clue as to how a great deal of words were pronounced. That sticks with me today. My worst every was a "Yosemite", which I pronounced something like "Yo see might". I knew 1000x more about the park (I was a big fan) than the guy who laughed at me (who still like, BTW), but had never heard the word, except for Yosemite Sam, but I didn't make the association. Some embarrassment, there.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:11:54 -0800

I used to work with someone would occasionally talk about how her doctor told her she shouldn't drink anything with "as-par-ta-me" in it. The first time she said it I just got confused, but I never corrected her. No one else did either.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:21:22 -0800

That guy needs to get out more.

By: Squid Voltaire

Squid Voltaire — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:34:10 -0800

Maybe some folks are missing the link where the magazine mailed him a pasty? That's not cool enough for you? Also, what Bovine Love said.

By: cogneuro

cogneuro — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:47:27 -0800

"Confronted with the error, Dubner compounded it by conjecturing, wrongly, that pasties and pastrys are etymologically related." - cogneuro "the two are etymologically related" - cogneuro's link. I think there should be a prise to the first person not to make an error in this thread. uh huh. what's the error? If you're referring to the use of pasties as the plural of pasty (a food) vs. pastie (a body ornament), the former usage has been in the language for a while: OED: 1566 W. ADLINGTON tr. Apuleius Golden Asse xlv. f. 107, Bread pasties, tartes, custardes, & other delicate ionckettes dipped in honie. Some other problem?

By: aydeejones

aydeejones — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:19:24 -0800

My mom's a Wisconsinite and made pasties, pot pies, and beef stew a lot when I was a kid; they all seemed suspiciously similar. She also made Danish, which aren't called Danish in Denmark (they have another country of origin that I can't recall), while my wife's mom is Czech and makes kolaches from time to time...the Texas/fast food kolache is not quite authentic though you can typically get a rough approximation so long as it ain't stuffed inside; instead imagine a mildly sweet dough, configured like a Danish with a dollop of cottage cheese mixture / poppy seed filling / fruit ON the center of the disc.

By: rusty

rusty — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:32:06 -0800

I still can't get over people never having heard of pasties. I don't even know when I first encountered them, so it must have been one of those things I learned young enough to not remember it. And I grew up in Massachusetts, with no Cornish or British connections at all. This all makes me wonder what delicious foods I have unaccountably never heard of.

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:49:40 -0800

Why does he go on to call it a "pie"? It's not a fucking pie, it's a pastie, that's the whole point! And why do Americans call pizzas "pies" as well? What is wrong with you people? Why does everything boil down to pie?

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:06:41 -0800

mmmmm! pie.

By: neuron

neuron — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:22:23 -0800

I'm in Texas now and what the hell is a kolache? They're everywhere here. A hot dog baked inside a bun (pigs in a blanket?). What the hell? Dude, go to the Czech Stop in West, Texas, right on I35. Buy assorted kolaches and eat them. You will think you've died and gone to heaven. Meat- or fruit-filled.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:24:52 -0800

If only Xeni Jardin had mailed a pasty to Violet Blue....

By: debord

debord — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:51:47 -0800

"It seems strange that "pastry" would become "pasties," but I guess no more strange than "Margaret" becoming "Peggy."" I was puzzled by this. What does he think it would be made of? Perhaps a pasty is a pie with a jelly shell?

By: Dave Faris

Dave Faris — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:47:00 -0800

81 comments and no one said anything about him eating humble pie?

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:37:23 -0800

Because it's hard to eat humble pie with your foot in your mouth.

By: edd

edd — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:39:41 -0800

cogneuro: yeah. You're saying that Dubner was wrong to say they're related, and support this by linking to a page that explicitly says they are related.