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Is This The Greatest NY Times Correction Of All Time?
By
Ben Yakas
Published May 8, 2011
Modified May 8, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published May 8, 2011
Modified May 8, 2011
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There really is one NY Times correction to rule them all: last weekend, the Gray Lady wrote a cute little piece about well-read Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, and his unusual predilection for naming his baseball bats after Beowulf and The Hobbit references...except it seems someone hasn't been reading their Encyclopedia of Arda lately.
In the original piece, it said: "One bat іѕ called Orcrist thе Goblin Ax аnd thе οthеr іѕ Hrunting. Dickey, аn avid reader, ѕаіd thаt Orcrist came frοm Thе Hobbit; іt іѕ thе blade Bilbo Baggins uses іn thе Misty Mountains. Hrunting — thе H іѕ ѕіlеnt, Dickey ѕаіd—came frοm thе epic poem Beowulf; іt іѕ thе sword Beowulf uses tο kіll Grendel’s mother." However, as the correction points out, "Orcrist was the sword used by the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield in the book." Thus, the Times, and Dickey to a lesser extent, were publicly shamed by Middle Earth enthusiasts the internet over. One reddit user aptly reads between the lines: "Read as: 'Please, please, for the love of God just stop writing in about it....' They'll know better than to fuck with Tolkien fans next time."
Tagged
bats
corrections
mets
ny times
ra dickey
swords
the hobbit
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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