I just finished editing a textbook on world history since the end of World War II. It was an interesting and mostly well-written project, but I caught quite a few mistakes missed by the spell-checking program. Two examples: "NFL" instead of "NLF" (for the National Liberation Front in North Vietnam) and "libation theology" instead of "liberation theology."
I had to give the author credit, though for the use of the word "pell-mell," which you just don't hear anymore. It means rapid and darting. He used it to describe the past few decades of economic development in China.
Naturally in a book of this type, the names of many world leaders were given, and I checked the spelling of each on line. I found out that along with capsule bios, Wikipedia also gives the height of prominent people. Did you know that Nikita Khrushchev was only five-foot-three? And Iranian politician Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is only five-foot-two?
Pell-mell!
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