Buzz
In the modern era, typos have become an almost unavoidable mistake. Whether you're composing a quick message, working on an academic paper, or preparing a professional resume, errors often creep in. These slip-ups appear everywhere, from cherished novels to social media posts by celebrities and even in reputable news outlets. While we’ve grown accustomed to them, they never cease to entertain when highlighted. Here’s a collection of ten hilarious typos that are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.
10. The President ‘Entering’ His Fiancee
In 1915, The Washington Post published a piece about President Woodrow Wilson’s romantic endeavors. A particularly peculiar line in the article stated, “The President gave himself up for the time being to entering his fiancee.”
Naturally, the intended meaning was that the president had been entertaining his soon-to-be wife, Edith Galt, rather than “entering” her. This awkward phrasing was clearly an error but has since become infamous as one of the most notorious typos in print history. Fortunately, since Eugene Meyer acquired The Washington Post in 1933, the publication has maintained a reputation for outstanding political journalism, steering clear of such embarrassing mistakes.
9. Bible Typos
One of the most infamous Bible errors occurred in 1631 when the word “not” was accidentally left out of the commandment “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” This edition, later dubbed the Sinner’s Bible, sparked rumors that the mistake might have been an act of deliberate sabotage.
Memorable typos aren’t limited to just one version of the Bible. For instance, a 1795 printing of the King James Bible mistakenly replaced “Let the children first be filled” (Mark 7:27) with the alarming phrase, “Let the children first be killed.”
Another example comes from a 1716 edition of the King James Bible, where “Sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34) was incorrectly printed as “Sin on more.” This error went unnoticed until 8,000 copies had already been distributed. Additionally, a 1612 edition of the Bible transformed “Princes have persecuted me” into the oddly modern “Printers have persecuted me.”
8. 14,499 + 1 = 15,000
The exact cause remains a mystery, but between February 6 and 7, 1898, The New York Times inexplicably jumped from issue number 14,499 to 15,000. This oversight went unnoticed for an entire century.
In 1999, Aaron Donovan, a news assistant at The Times, grew curious about the newspaper’s issue numbering and the potential for mistakes. Using a spreadsheet, he calculated the total days since the paper’s inception and cross-referenced archived records to identify skipped publication dates. After meticulously reviewing historic front pages and microfilm reels, Donovan pinpointed the exact date of the 500-issue discrepancy.
On January 1, 2000, The Times published a correction with a detailed explanation. While the December 31, 1999, edition was labeled issue number 51,753, the following day’s paper was marked as issue 51,254. Although no harm was done, the error led to The Times mistakenly celebrating its 50,000th issue on March 14, 1995, when it was actually only issue 49,500.
7. The Mistake Corrected 161 Years Later
In 2014, The New York Times rectified a typo that had persisted for 161 years. The original article, published on January 20, 1853, detailed the life of Solomon Northup, a freed slave who authored the memoir 12 Years A Slave. However, the article misspelled his name as “Northrop,” and the headline further altered it to “Northrup.”
6. Typo Results In The Santa Tracker
A printing error in a 1955 Sears ad within a Colorado Springs newspaper, combined with a call to Colonel Harry Shoup’s confidential hotline at the Continental Air Defense Command (now NORAD), inadvertently gave birth to NORAD’s official Santa Tracker.
The incident began when Colonel Shoup received a call on a number known only to him and a high-ranking Pentagon official. Upon answering, the caller asked, “Is this Santa Claus?” Initially irritated, Shoup assumed it was a prank. However, when the caller began to cry, he realized it was genuine and decided to play along as Santa. More calls poured in, and Shoup discovered the mix-up stemmed from a typo in a Sears advertisement.
Several airmen were assigned to answer calls, impersonating Santa, but the story didn’t end there. On Christmas Eve 1955, Shoup entered the command center to find a sleigh sketched on the glass board used for tracking aircraft. Inspired, he contacted a local radio station, claiming an unidentified flying object resembling a sleigh had been spotted. From then on, radio stations called hourly for Santa’s location, and the Santa tracking tradition was born.
5. From ‘Exotic’ To ‘Erotic’
In 1988, Gloria Quinan, owner of Banner Travel Services, filed a $10 million lawsuit against a phone company due to a typo. The error in a telephone directory ad transformed her “exotic” travel services into “erotic” travel services.
Understandably, Quinan was deeply upset and took legal action against the yellow pages. The typo led to a flood of inappropriate calls and the loss of many loyal customers. As compensation, she not only received a refund of the $230 monthly fee for the ad but was also awarded $10 million for the emotional distress and mental anguish she endured.
1. Extra ‘S’ Personally Offends
A statue of Edgar Allan Poe, created by Moses Ezekiel in 1916, was installed near the University of Baltimore School of Law in Maryland in 1921. The original pedestal featured an excerpt from Poe’s poem “The Raven,” which mistakenly read, “Dreamng dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before.”
Interestingly, the glaring typo in “dreamng” was less offensive to Poe’s admirers than the error in “mortals,” which should have been “mortal.” One Baltimore local was so disturbed by the mistake that he spent years sending letters of complaint to newspapers. When his efforts went unanswered, he took matters into his own hands in 1930, using a chisel to personally remove the extra letter, claiming it was “for the good of [his] soul.”
4. Typo Stops A Bank Heist
In 2016, a typo in an online bank transfer request thwarted a nearly $1 billion heist. Despite this, the hackers still managed to steal approximately $80 million.
The cybercriminals successfully infiltrated Bangladesh Bank’s systems and obtained credentials for processing payment transfers. They proceeded to send nearly three dozen requests to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, aiming to transfer funds from Bangladesh Bank’s account to recipients in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Four of the transfer requests to the Philippines were approved, totaling around $81 million. However, the fifth attempt to send $20 million to a Sri Lankan nonprofit failed because the hackers misspelled “foundation” as “fandation,” raising red flags.
8. 14,499 + 1 = 15,000
The exact reason remains unclear, but between February 6 and 7, 1898, The New York Times inexplicably skipped from issue number 14,499 to 15,000. This error went unnoticed for an entire century.
In 1999, Aaron Donovan, a news assistant at The Times, grew curious about the newspaper’s issue numbering and the potential for mistakes. Using a spreadsheet, he calculated the total days since the paper’s inception and cross-referenced archived records to identify skipped publication dates. After meticulously reviewing historic front pages and microfilm reels, Donovan pinpointed the exact date of the 500-issue discrepancy.
On January 1, 2000, The Times published a correction with a detailed explanation. While the December 31, 1999, edition was labeled issue number 51,753, the following day’s paper was marked as issue 51,254. Although no harm was done, the error led to The Times mistakenly celebrating its 50,000th issue on March 14, 1995, when it was actually only issue 49,500.
7. The Mistake Corrected 161 Years Later
In 2014, The New York Times rectified a typo that had persisted for 161 years. The original article, published on January 20, 1853, detailed the life of Solomon Northup, a freed slave who authored the memoir 12 Years A Slave. However, the article misspelled his name as “Northrop,” and the headline further altered it to “Northrup.”
6. Typo Results In The Santa Tracker
A printing error in a 1955 Sears ad within a Colorado Springs newspaper, combined with a call to Colonel Harry Shoup’s confidential hotline at the Continental Air Defense Command (now NORAD), inadvertently gave birth to NORAD’s official Santa Tracker.
The incident began when Colonel Shoup received a call on a number known only to him and a high-ranking Pentagon official. Upon answering, the caller asked, “Is this Santa Claus?” Initially irritated, Shoup assumed it was a prank. However, when the caller began to cry, he realized it was genuine and decided to play along as Santa. More calls poured in, and Shoup discovered the mix-up stemmed from a typo in a Sears advertisement.
Several airmen were assigned to answer calls, impersonating Santa, but the story didn’t end there. On Christmas Eve 1955, Shoup entered the command center to find a sleigh sketched on the glass board used for tracking aircraft. Inspired, he contacted a local radio station, claiming an unidentified flying object resembling a sleigh had been spotted. From then on, radio stations called hourly for Santa’s location, and the Santa tracking tradition was born.
5. From ‘Exotic’ To ‘Erotic’
In 1988, Gloria Quinan, owner of Banner Travel Services, filed a $10 million lawsuit against a phone company due to a typo. The error in a telephone directory ad transformed her “exotic” travel services into “erotic” travel services.
Understandably, Quinan was deeply upset and took legal action against the yellow pages. The typo led to a flood of inappropriate calls and the loss of many loyal customers. As compensation, she not only received a refund of the $230 monthly fee for the ad but was also awarded $10 million for the emotional distress and mental anguish she endured.
4. Typo Stops A Bank Heist
In 2016, a typo in an online bank transfer request thwarted a nearly $1 billion heist. Despite this, the hackers still managed to steal approximately $80 million.
The cybercriminals successfully infiltrated Bangladesh Bank’s systems and obtained credentials for processing payment transfers. They proceeded to send nearly three dozen requests to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, aiming to transfer funds from Bangladesh Bank’s account to recipients in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Four of the transfer requests to the Philippines were approved, totaling around $81 million. However, the fifth attempt to send $20 million to a Sri Lankan nonprofit failed because the hackers misspelled “foundation” as “fandation,” raising red flags.
1. Extra ‘S’ Personally Offends
A statue of Edgar Allan Poe, created by Moses Ezekiel in 1916, was installed near the University of Baltimore School of Law in Maryland in 1921. The original pedestal featured an excerpt from Poe’s poem “The Raven,” which mistakenly read, “Dreamng dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before.”
Interestingly, the glaring typo in “dreamng” was less offensive to Poe’s admirers than the error in “mortals,” which should have been “mortal.” One Baltimore local was so disturbed by the mistake that he spent years sending letters of complaint to newspapers. When his efforts went unanswered, he took matters into his own hands in 1930, using a chisel to personally remove the extra letter, claiming it was “for the good of [his] soul.”
2. The Typo That Almost Ended In A Death Sentence
In 1987, Bruce Wayne Morris was nearly sentenced to death due to a typographical error. Morris was charged with murdering a man who had offered him a ride while he was hitchhiking from Sacramento, California, to Lake Tahoe in 1985. After the trial, the judge intended to write instructions stating that if Morris was not given the death penalty, he would serve life imprisonment without parole. However, the judge mistakenly wrote “with” instead of “without.”
Believing they had to choose between a death sentence and the possibility of Morris being released in a few years, the jury opted for death. After multiple appeals, the error was discovered, and the decision was overturned in 2001.
3. ‘World Is Fukt’
In 2014, The Australian Financial Review‘s front page for its Western Australian Anzac Day weekend edition featured a headline that read, in part, “World Is Fukt.”
Surprisingly, this wasn’t the only error on that front page. Other mistakes included “Japan headline,” “Gallipolli,” “Joe Hockey headline tk here,” and unexplained blank spaces. It’s hard to ignore the sheer number of errors on a single page.
Michael Stutchbury, the editor-in-chief, issued an apology to Western Australian readers for the “clearly unacceptable state” of the front page. The blunder occurred when production staff in Sydney accidentally pressed the wrong button, sending a draft version of the page to print sites nationwide.
