The Dark Magic of Google

So the final Harry Potter title has been released: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. What do you think? I’m reserving judgment, but I haven’t really been a huge fan of any of the titles since #4 (Phoenix was a great title, but I’m not sure it fit the book). The Washington Post article about it quoted a child reader saying:

“Oh I think that’s a really good name. . . . I’m guessing it’s about [Godric’s] Hollow, so that tells you a real place where the book is set,” said 10-year-old [DIANA REDACTS KID’S FULL NAME] of Springfield, Va., referring to the place where the boy wizard’s parents were killed.

Good guess, Nick, but it’s hallows in the title, not hollows.

Wow, you intrepid reporter, you… you really got him! On the record, too. And now, in seven years, when that kid is applying to college, the Google search his admissions committee does will turn up some vocabulary mistake he made as a child (did he even see the name written out, or did you simply speak it to him?) and you ridiculing him for it. Kids do say the darndest things! Maybe journalists have to get snarky to keep pace with the bloggers? I think grown-ups making fun of ten year olds in newspapers is over the line.

Once, when I was in college, a reporter from the school newspaper was doing a story and asking a bunch of us for quotes and after I gave mine, I remember the girl next to me saying something ridiculously stupid and thinking to myself that she would probably be embarrassed when she saw it repeated in the paper the next day. I bet you can guess what happened. The quote appeared with MY name attached. I never asked for a correction, because it seemed silly to get bent out of shape about some human interest story in the school newspaper, but now, all these years later, it’s still online, and it’s still wrong. So I feel for this kid, even though in this case, he did say what he was quoted as saying. It was a miscommunication.

Of course, ask for a correction nowadays and people will assume you’re trying to get grounds for a lawsuit.