I always think of two things on Presidents’ Day. Typos and my resentment of Richard Nixon.
I think of typos because Presidents’ Day always reminds me of the memo I saw from a principal to a coach who did not have the right priorities. As the principal put it, “You should know that academics takes presidents over athletics.” Of course it does.
Then there is the memo from the principal to the staff reminding them that “next Tuesday we will have a Lickdown Drill.” Of course we will.
My worst goof was in the paper I presented once at a TCASE conference about the legal duty to provide a Free Appropriate Pubic Education. No help from Spell Check on that one.
I was sorta relieved to find that my “pubic” when I meant “public” was a mistake that others have also made. In fact, if you Google “classic typos” you may come across the cover page for the graduation ceremonies at the LBJ School at UT from 2012. Touting “Unlimited Possibilities” the cover features a beautiful picture of the UT Tower as the sun glints off windows and the deep blue Texas sky provides backdrop. Below the photograph is the name of the school:
LYNDON B. JOHNSON SCHOOL OF PUBIC AFFAIRS
I guess someone must have caught it, albeit too late, because the LBJ School put out a tweet to apologize:
Our deepest apologies to our 2012 graduates for the eggregious typo in our program.
Makes you wonder if you can get bacon to go with those eggregious typos.
As to Nixon, my resentment has nothing to do with Watergate or Vietnam. It’s about Presidents’ Day. Do you realize that we used to have two holidays in February? And isn’t February the kind of month in which two holidays would be very welcome? In days of yore (like when the Dawg was a pup) we were off school on February 12 in honor of Lincoln’s birthday, and then again on February 22 for Washington’s. Nixon consolidated these into one holiday.
I hope you will join us for Zooming with the Dawg this Friday. If you know of a classic or eggregious typo, send it to me in advance, and we will provide a summary during the Zoom call. jwalsh@wabsa.com. Hope to see you at 10 on Friday!
DAWG BONE: HAPPY PRESIDENTS’ DAY
Tomorrow: Toolbox Tuesday!!