Have you ever noticed a typo on a public sign that was so embarrassing you felt compelled to do something about it? That’s exactly how these two gentlemen spent an entire summer.
In the spring of 2008, Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson, embarked on a two-and-a-half month, cross-country editing mission.
Their goal: to rid the country of as many misspellings, typos and grammar errors as possible on signs in places such as stores, public buildings, gas stations and even the Grand Canyon.
The duo dubbed themselves the Typo Eradication Advancement League and used sharpies, pens and whiteout to correct mistakes from Connecticut to California.
They chronicled their adventures in “The Great Typo Hunt” — a 288-page book filled with hundreds of typo-ridden examples.
Here are just a few of the mistakes Deck and Herson discovered:
- a sign in Atlanta advertising both a “pregnacy” test and a “souviner” of the city
- a liquor store near Washington, D.C., with the sign “Dupont Wines and Sprits, LLC,” and
- a placard in Arizona reminding tourists to bring their “camera’s.”
Unfortunately, not everyone appreciated the pair’s efforts. A federal judge fined the two $3,000 for correcting, or rather defacing, a grammar mistake on an official Grand Canyon sign.
