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BY HELEN ZALTZMAN

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Allusionist 106. Typo Demon - transcript

September 15, 2019 The Allusionist
A106 Typo Demon logo.jpg

IAN CHILLAG: Titivillus is the typo demon. I've certainly felt the effects of the demon Titivillus in my life. I've made typos. I had not, until I learned of Titivillus, known that I could blame those typos on a higher power or - is a demon or a lower power?

HZ: I think they originated when an archangel fell from heaven - Lucifer - ao I'd imagine if you're taking the conventional geography of heaven being high, then the demons would be low - but then a typing demon would probably be on the Earth's surface for maximum efficacy. 

IAN CHILLAG: Well, Titivillus did - does, maybe - walk the Earth, and what he does is make scribes make errors. So a medieval scribe is doing their work, writing down what they have to in their text, probably a religious text; and Titivillus shows up and does whatever he does and suddenly there are typos in those texts. 

HZ: And rather than ascribing that to medieval scribes having very tired hands due to the equipment that they use being exhausting to propel, and they were working in not the brightest light conditions, they were like, "No, it's demons."

IAN CHILLAG: Nope, it was Titivillus the typo demon. 

HZ: We're talking about a demon that arrived on the scene of demonism in the 13th century. 

IAN CHILLAG: Correct. 

HZ: So when we say typos, we really mean handos. 

IAN CHILLAG: Yeah yeah. The hando demon.

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In transcript, Radiotopia Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, Chillusionist, Everything Is Allusionist, Ian Chillag, Everything Is Alive, typos, handwriting, writing, scribes, scribal error, Titivillus, demons, devil, Lucifer, heaven, hell, errors, typing, handos, The Exorcist, Satan, divine, retribution, Wicked Bible, Bible, Bible translations, errors in the Bible, mistakes, gossip, spelling, buzzkills, killjoys, Ten Commandments, God, medieval, Middle Ages, Old Testament, error hell, folders, demonic possessions, autocorrect, punishment, swear jar, jokes, bad jokes, puns, portmanteaus, gentlest circle of hell, trivia, prayer, scribal, church, demonic possession
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