From my teacher's log:


The students discovered a typographic error in the text of the syllabus which proved quite amusing.

The third paragraph of the syllabus should have read, in part: "We expand the work on the physical aspects of public presentation: posture, enunciation, projection, gesture, and expression. As preparation for the two major (and graded) oral presentations, expect to engage in a good deal of class discussion and practice. Some of the practical exercises are a bit silly."

However, the first sentence included a spelling error -- not, though, caught by spell check, for in fact the spelling was correct, but the meaning of this passage was greatly changed -- "pubic" for "public". So, we had great fun considering the importance of posture, projection, gesture, and expression in a pubic presentation, how presentations might be preparations for oral presentations, just how important not only discussion but practice might be in preparing pubic presentations, and it certainly should not be a surprise to realize that such "practical exercises" would be "a bit silly"... As J.G. Bennett said in a similar situation, "sometimes one makes a joke without meaning to".

After class, I showed the unedited document to one of the art history instructors, the dean of students, the registrar, and the librarians -- and not one of them caught the error without being specifically directed to it.

Kudos to the FVC students!