Steve Kellman, who reviews books for the Texas Observer, does Um... here in "Applied Blunderology." He likes it!...this was a good line, too: "While Erard’s name suggests he was born to write about errata, his Ph.D. in linguistics from UT-Austin certifies he was trained for it." Kellman also appropriately notes that I am "more Meringerian than Freudian" -- you only get that if you've actually read the book.

But on this -- "a connoisseur of fumbles, Erard has a professional incentive to encourage their occurrence" -- I do have something to say. (Not having learned any such lesson as I suggest in the title of this post.) Verbal blunders will occur regardless of my encouragement, and regardless of anyone's attempts to quell them. So I have an incentive to encourage the wild, and discourage most attempts to civilize it. I'd like the book to be read as trying to discourage the fencing in of errors as "Freudian," or as "Spoonerisms," or as the unique characteristic of a president. Or, at least, for people to realize that when they're shown Freudian slips or Bushisms, they're looking at critters in a zoo, not how they actually appear.

All this is notes for a second edition, I guess...