Wednesday, May 23, 2007

May 23, 2007 - Fo

As the giant at the end of Jack's beanstalk liked to say: Fee fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman! I, on the other hand, smell a "very high probability" typo in Fo, which shows up 1,819 times in OhioLINK and 212 times in my own OPAC. When it is a typo, it usually means of or to or for. In many cases, though, Fo is part of a proper name, like that of Dario Fo, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, or many Chinese people. FO is also a type of page layout software (Formatting Objects) and can stand for "financial officer," among other things. Whether friend or foe, you'll find a lot of these along the way, so take care not to commit another "fo pas" when clearing your database of this common typo. (Illustration is by Arthur Rackham.)

Carol Reid

No comments: