Saturday, May 11, 2002

Leavitt, David, The Lost Laguage of Cranes, Mariner Books, 1997, paperback edition
Not a mistake, exactly, but an oddity. On page 119 a 'Maltese cat' is referenced ("Vanessa is Mother's cat.... Pure-bred Maltese"). However, the Maltese cat is generally called the Russian Blue (see http://www.dsu.edu/~johnsone/russian.html) Much more common is the Maltese dog (see http://www.maltesedog.com/), one of those onerous yappy terrier types that require bows and often get included in family photographic xmas cards, dressed as elves or angels. What makes this a particularly vexing detail is that the protagonist's mother is a copy editor. This is exactly the sort of mistake she would have questioned, and perhaps recommended that the author change the reference to refer to a dog, or change Maltese to Russian Blue.