Typographical error
A typographical error (often shortened to typo), also called a misprint, is a mistake (such as a spelling mistake)[1] made in the typing of printed (or electronic) material. Historically, this referred to mistakes in manual type-setting (typography). Technically, the term includes errors due to mechanical failure or slips of the hand or finger,[2] but excludes errors of ignorance, such as spelling errors, or changing and misuse of words such as "than" and "then". Before the arrival of printing, the "copyist's mistake" or "scribal error" was the equivalent for manuscripts. Most typos involve simple duplication, omission, transposition, or substitution of a small number of characters.
"Fat Finger", or "Fat-Finger Syndrome" (also used in financial sectors), a slang term, refers to an unwanted secondary action when typing. When one's finger is bigger than the touch zone, there can be inaccuracy in the fine motor movements and accidents may occur. This is common with touchscreens. One may hit two adjacent keys on the keyboard in a single keystroke. An example is "buckled" instead of "bucked", due to the "L" key's being next to the "K" key on the QWERTY keyboard, the most common keyboard for Latin-script alphabets.
When using a typewriter without correction tape, typos were commonly overstruck with another character such as a slash. This saved the typist the trouble of retyping the entire page to eliminate the error, but as evidence of the typo remained, it was not aesthetically pleasing.
In computer forums, sometimes ^H (a visual representation of the ASCII backspace character) was used to "erase" intentional typos: Be nice to this fool^H^H^H^Hgentleman, he's visiting from corporate HQ.[3]
In instant messaging, users often send messages in haste and only afterwards notice the typo. It is common practice to correct the typo by sending a subsequent message in which an asterisk is placed before (or after) the correct word.[4]
In formal prose, it is sometimes necessary to quote text containing typos or other doubtful words. In such cases, the author will write "[sic]" to indicate that an error was in the original quoted source rather than in the transcription.[5]
