Results tagged “typo”

As debate continues over whether a fire dispatcher's typo led to three deaths and four injuries in a Woodside, Queens home on Saturday, it turns out the basement apartments where the victims lived had been eyed by the Department of Buildings before. According to the Daily News, the two-family home "had been illegally converted into a five-family residence with another seven single rooms"—but when the DOB inspected it in 1990 and 2004, they found nothing wrong!

Firefighters responding to a deadly Woodside fire that killed three and injured four in an illegal basement apartment yesterday could have arrived sooner — had they not been routed to the wrong address first. A 911 operator mistakenly entered a two instead of a five and sent Engine Company 292 and Rescue Company 4 on a "wild goose chase" to 62nd Street instead of 65th Street, a delay that cost firefighters about 2 minutes and 30 seconds, according to the fire union.

It seems the MTA/NYC Transit crew quietly fixed the "Brodaway" typo we spotted recently. Someone at SubChat wrote that as of this past Monday the misspelled tile sign was "corrected by using a thermal tile marking device by covering the squares in black (I did see the original lettered outline underneath), then place each a white 'A' and 'D' over it, but with a slightly bolder font, in what is now in their proper setting." Sounds like a quick, inexpensive fix (albeit more inconsistent font work), but it didn't stick! Another SubChat post from yesterday declares it is back to "Brodaway" and suggests the MTA "leave things alone so that the sign can remain as part of the lore (and lure) of the subway."

Looks like typo fever has taken hold of the city. First a subway mosaic with a 72-year-old error was spotted, setting spellcheckers into a frenzy, and now the NY Post points out an 82-year-old error carved into stone on the Manhattan Supreme Courthouse.

        

As far as an underground typo is concerned, it's not all that important unless, say, the F train is donning an R. So we hope the folks at NYC Transit don't actually fix the harmless errors—that would cost money, and it's sort of fun to spot these while waiting for the train to arrive. That said, last week a reader noticed an over 70-year-old typo on a Brooklyn G train platform, which was quickly followed with more human spellcheckers sending in their own quirky finds (including this one for "Brighten" Beach). Here are the top typos—send yours to tips(AT)gothamist(DOT)com and we'll add them!

It's a beautiful day outside, but if you need to brighten yours up a bit more why don't you take this express train to Brighten Beach! Though don't expect anything different from what you'd find here.

This typo was spotted over the weekend on the G train platform. Could it simply be an MTA error that has gone unnoticed, or is it the handiwork of a subway mosaic mash-up artist (if such a thing exists)? The MTA says they weren't aware of the error and told us that while they "can't imagine we've done any work there recently," they're going to look into it. Too bad people can't post comments on subway stations; the typo would have been corrected immediately.

After Miguel Olaya's wife lost her battle to pelvic cancer on March 28th, he made arrangements with a Bay Ridge funeral home to send the remains to their native Ecuador. Then he went ahead to make the funeral arrangements, but when he arrived at the airport in the city of Guayaquil, he was told that his wife's remains were, uh, lost. Care to guess which airline? Good old American, which has been in the news recently for its baggage issues.

The Cobble Hill Cinemas has liberal parents and their curious children cinematically covered, with their series: Bi Movies for Little Kids. On the 19th they'll be screening Hoppity Goes to Town, followed by June screenings of The Wizard of Oz and Muppets from Space.

The above photo was taken on April 9th at the intersection that was previously known as Mercer Street and W Houston Street. Adjust your Google maps, the city has (accidentally) renamed Mercer to Merser. Any guesses as to how long it will take the DoT to white this one out?