Typos are Just Typos

I’ve been searching local newspapers in Hancock County, Illinois, where I grew up and where most of my family has lived for generations–using telephone numbers to find classified ads placed by my parents and grandparents.

I found the typical fare: eggs for sale, straw for sale (on the rack and bale your own), bulls for sale, etc. But I found several references to my parents phone number that I knew were errors including one for a Kiwanis breakfast and for inquiries on a home for sale. The references to my parents’ phone numbers in these cases were simply errors where likely two digits were switched (a transposition error) or a digit was keyed incorrectly.

Before I get suggestions that these were actually references to my parents and that I’m in error, neither of them were members of the Kiwanis Club and they didn’t speculate in local residential rental property.

Sometimes a typo is just that: a typo.