Having worked as a bookseller, I've heard more author names and book titles butchered than most. OWYAC probably has some doozies. I want to make clear I'm not making fun of people's ignorance. Quite the opposite. These people noticed lacunae in their episteme and were willing to risk a tiny bit of dignity to increase their knowledge of the world. Ordinary bravery. I appreciate them.
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| Isabelle Huppert, Godard's Passion from 1982. Probably the Godard work I've seen the most times. Three day rental period back when video stores were a thing, so I watched it seven or eight times in two days trying to make sense of it. |
Better to save the scorn for the Vermicious Knids of the world who have too much time and money and would eat your babies to survive.
Here are a few for the fans of malapropisms, solecisms, catachreses, etc., I guess:
- Alice in Wonderland by Carroll Lewis (Charles Dodgson)
- Book by Jack Caroooo (Kerouac)
- Book by Albert Kaymiss (Camus)
- Walter Benjamin (pronunciation is more like Ben Yameen, FYI)
- Life and Times of Chloe by a Latin American author (Love in the Time of Cholera)
But I will say that the customer who asked for Neil Gaiman's new book surprised me. Once you hear it as "Kneel, Gay Man!" you won't be able to hear it any other way.
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