My latest Tribune language column:
On "belly talk"--the attempts of expectant parents to communicate with their unborn babies.
temp link/perm.preview

Here's the BBC on the Psychological Science study I mentioned, and here's a page about ultrasound. Here's a recent Wash.Post report that babies understand concepts.

Here's the report I mentioned about the supposed typos of Indian transcriptionists; LL links to the skeptical post. Here's a 1996 instance of "baloney amputation."

Update: The Times of London via PEC:
"[Among] the Times' series of letters about dictation confusion... A solicitor dictated a warning that a client was under a misapprehension. The client received a letter stating she was 'under a Miss Happy Hension.'"