Haughty

How many people do you know who have found a misspelled word in the New York Times -- that wasn't in a letter to the editor?? Well, now you can add me to that illustrious list!

I found this word -- misspelled as "hautily"! -- in A Free-for-All on Science and Religion, by George Johnson in the New York Times Science section. I think the misspelling alone makes this word memorable!

Haughty (haw-tee) [Origin: 1520-30; obs. haught (sp. var. of late middle English haute via Old French from Latin altus high, with h-

adjective

  1. disdainfully proud; snobbish; scornfully arrogant; supercilious: haughty aristocrats; a haughty salesclerk.
  2. lordly, disdainful, contemptuous.
  3. Archaic. lofty or noble; exalted.

Usage: Hautily [sic] telling Napoleon that he had no need for the God Hypothesis, Laplace extended Newtown's mathematics and opened the way to a purely physical theory.

[NOTE: in this sentence, the word was used as an adverb and -- amazingly enough -- was misspelled by the NYTimes]
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Did the Times also misspell, "Newton?"

By Another Kevin (not verified) on 25 Nov 2006 #permalink