Jeffrey A. Gordon

I think it was Bill of the Birds who first introduced me to the concept of “proofreading the world,” the uncontrollable tendency some of us have to sift our environment for errors, typographic and otherwise. I realize nearly everyone does this at some level, but for some of us, it’s a compulsion. We can’t stop. Every misplaced apostrophe looms large, filling our mental windshield, only to be replaced by the next gaffe, which–trust me–is never very long in arriving.

I hasten to add that I don’t think this turn of mind is as depressing as it might initially sound. Sure, it can lead to a certain snarkiness, but it can also lead one to notice phrases that are especially well-turned. It even, applied to birds and such, can help one discover of rarities that otherwise might be missed.

OK, enough preamble–let’s get on with it. I was driving into the eastern edge of Millsboro, Delaware, on Route 24 yesterday when something in these signs caught my eye.

Many of my birder friends will have spotted it immediately. The GEICO billboard is directing the viewer to a, “local office,” in Sierra Vista, Arizona, a short 2,379 miles away. Seems like fuel expenses would more than obliterate any savings on insurance. (I kid, I kid–I’m generally a fan of GEICO’s ads, though they have SO many I guess some have to be good. Not this one, really, but anyway…)

Sierra Vista, if you didn’t know, is the jumping off point for visiting the Huachuca Mountains, easily one of the great birding spots anywhere in the U.S.

Would I have spotted this error if I hadn’t spent a considerable number of hours cruising up and down West Fry Blvd. myself? I don’t know. The name Sierra Vista might have jumped out at me. Believe me, you have to go a long way from here to vista any sierra. But it’s hard to say. I have no doubt that I’m more likely to spot a vagrant bird–maybe a Virginia’s Warbler or a Sage Thrasher, for example–here for having seen and heard them in Arizona and elsewhere, should one decide to show up. Not that I definitely would, but that the chances are improved.

By the way, the FAIL in this post’s title is a nod to a great time-waster for those who find humor in these phenomena: FAIL blog. Thanks–sort of–to Bill Schmoker for introducing me to it. Sure, it’s got an overabundance of photos of unintentionally phallus-shaped objects, but every so often they feature something that makes me laugh so hard I hurt. To get an idea whether it’s your cup of tea, take a peek at what is probably my favorite FAIL so far: Welsh FAIL.

And keep those eyes peeled.

Tags: billschmoker, billthompson, proofreading

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