The Best Typo I Have Ever Seen

So I wasn't going to blog about this, but since the Daily Universe published its own article about its mistake, I don't feel bad regurgitating information that the source already made available to the world. Now I can just add my viewpoint to the story.

I went to BYU campus this morning to try and get more homework done. (The library is quiet enough that I can concentrate yet noisy enough that I don't fall asleep.) On my way, I noticed that the Daily Universe stands were strangely empty, occupied only by a horizontal piece of paper that explained the void: (paraphrased) 'due to an error, the newspaper has been pulled but will be available online later this afternoon.' I thought that was a little odd, since normal errors can be retracted in the next day's paper.

An hour or so later, I went to visit Miss Berrie at work. She promptly handed me a original copy of the Daily Universe and delightfully exclaimed, "Did you SEE?!?" My brain was in its prior mode of scanning, so I didn't quite notice the error at first. (If I didn't have to read such boring articles in my textbooks I wouldn't be scanning all the time.)

But then I saw it. And I laughed for five straight minutes.

A caption describing a photo of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles (referencing the annual general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held this past weekend) described the Quorum of the 12 Apostates.

I am glad that I was not that copy editor. I can't even imagine what that copy editor is feeling right now. If it were me, I would crawl under a rock and die. I don't think the word humiliating can even begin to describe such an error.

Okay in all seriousness, this typo is funny to members of the Church who have a background in editing like me. But to people who aren't members, there isn't any humor there. In fact, it's downright embarrassing, especially since BYU and the Daily Universe is under the direction of the Church itself. It looks like a joke gone horribly wrong, and some people might be offended. So it's strange to see the campus undergo such a strange move, but it's probably better that they reprint than leave the error.

The Daily Universe is a student-run paper. Anyone who has ever seen a copy during their lifetime can understand this concept in a nanosecond. Students throughout the campus community have always known that the paper isn't that great regarding its editing quality; the highlight of my editing class years ago was spending 5 minutes at the end of every class period finding all the mistakes in the newspaper. Maybe after this instance, DU staffers might get more serious about their editing standards--and maybe offering the editing class as a requirement. And you can't blame the problem on a deadline. Everyone has deadlines. What matters is how you manage those deadlines. And you can't ever assume that someone else has seen the copy.

Meanwhile, since I appreciate the humor, I'll probably keep laughing about it, and pray that poor copy editor can smile on her way to work tomorrow.