Typos: Performance vs. Competence

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Phil from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Hello, Phil. Welcome.

Hi, Phil. What’s up?

Well, my topic is about typos.

I had a question about, it seems like with everyone on devices like computers and phones and stuff like that,

We’re seeing printed text all over the place generated by random people all the time.

And it used to be a typo was, you know, you accidentally pushed an S instead of an A,

So you misspelled a word because of that, and that’s a typo.

But now it seems like it’s kind of transformed into, you know,

If you put in Y-O-U-R instead of Y-O-U apostrophe R-E, you can still call that a typo.

Like the definition of typo is expanding to be pretty much any grammatical or linguistic problem with your sentence.

It seems like to be a catch-all for any mistake you might make when writing.

And I was wondering if this is what you find an appropriate expanse of this word,

Or maybe you not even experienced this, or is this a phenomenon that you’re aware of?

Phil, it sounds like you have an opinion about this.

That’s what I was going to say.

You know, I don’t want to make it sound like I’m one of these, you know, grammar sticklers,

Because I probably make just as many mistakes as everyone else.

But I’m willing to say that all my mistakes are just because I’m careless,

Not because of, you know, it seems like you’re saying typo,

You’re almost blaming it on the device you’re using.

Right.

Exactly.

The poor craftsman blames his tools, right?

Exactly, exactly.

I know enough that it’s my own ineptness that is causing the problem,

That’s not a technological glitch.

So if you call your confusion error a typo, you’re deferring the responsibility, right?

Exactly.

You’re saying, well, it’s not me.

I’m perfect.

It’s the machine.

No, the machine is making all these mistakes.

Yeah, yeah.

I don’t know why.

I almost feel like sometimes if you write a sentence and maybe it ends up having a little bit more of a strict tone than you meant,

Sometimes people are like, oh, that was just a typo.

I mistyped that.

I mean, that’s really taking away any kind of responsibility from the writer at that point.

You know, I’ve got to say, Phil, I’m kind of with you on this.

I think somebody who strives to be a better writer and often comes up short,

I feel like the only way I get better is if I do take that responsibility on myself

And don’t blame my tools and don’t blame the mechanics of the situation.

I mean, if it’s actually my fault.

There’s a difference between confusing the different yours, right, and an adjacent key error where you hit the E instead of the letter next to it, right?

Yeah.

There’s something, they talk about this, of course, of course they do in linguistics all the time.

And they have jargon for it, which perfectly applies here.

You have performance errors.

This is where you know how to do a thing, but for some reason you didn’t.

The machine got in the way.

The cat walked on the keyboard.

You were typing on your phone and one of the letters was stuck, something like that.

That’s a performance error.

And then there’s the competence errors, which is you never knew the difference between all the different yours in the first place,

Or that you are a terrible speller, or you’re just really not that bright.

And so what you’re talking about here is people claiming something is a performance error when it’s actually a competence error.

You know, there’s an inverse to this, Phil, as well.

And I’ve had this happen when I was a working journalist,

When people would say, well, you misspelled that.

I’m like, no, that’s not a misspelling.

That’s just a literal keyboard mistake,

Where it actually wasn’t a misspelling.

The word was misspelled, but it didn’t reflect upon the fact

That I didn’t know how to spell it.

It’s just like a keyboard mistake,

Like a book fell on the keyboard and inserted a VD or somewhere.

I don’t know, you know?

Phil, I’m with you.

I’m interested in what the rest of our listeners think

About this expansion of the term typo

To refer to any kind of text-based mistake.

Do you think that there’s a difference there?

Do you find that it’s just an excuse to blame your tools when it’s actually your fault as somebody who didn’t learn enough?

Well, you know, I kind of like the word so that I can blame all my mistakes on it.

It’s kind of convenient.

It is handy, isn’t it?

I’m not sure I want it to change.

I just kind of want to bring people’s attention to it.

Well, consider attention brought.

Thanks so much for calling.

Thanks, buddy.

Thank you very much, guys.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

Did I tell you I had a cat named Typo because he walked across my keyboard?

It’s really true.

I had him for 17 years.

Oh, sweet kitty.

Yeah, first day I got him, and he stepped on the 6 key, so he’s type 6666.

And I didn’t name him Diablo.

I named him Typo.

They love the computers because they’re warm, right?

And also because that’s the direction you’re facing.

That’s right.

And your hands are right there, and you might actually scratch under a chin.

Right.

So what do you get a view of?

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