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Stephenson:Neal:Cryptonomicon:Typos

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

This is from the first edition hardcover, possibly from the second printing.

I'm using a page.paragraph.line number here; some typos are subtle or otherwise insidious. Paragraph zero on a page means it's continued from the previous page. Negative paragraph or line numbers mean to count from the bottom of the page.

  • 2.0.1 producing the illusion that the truck its moving faster -> is
  • 5.2.9 - fell into worldy pursuits -> worldly
  • 22 footnote - missing a period at the end
  • 29.-3.-3 - Nipponese ones expecially -> especially
  • 43.3.3 - sprout finedly hammered leaves. -> finely
  • 70.3.-5 - 21 T 25 -> 21 8 25
  • 77.-2.-3 -Proper case: "Unshavenness as signifier in World War II Movies" -> Signifier
  • 86.-1.-7 - replendent in his uniform -> resplendent
  • 93.1.-1 - his 4069-bit encryption key -> 4096
  • 99.2.-2 which sicks out into a small cove -> sticks
  • 108.3.3 - caps: "Torpedo Bombers at two o'clock!"
  • 125.8.1 2071 is the product of two primes -> 2701
  • 155.-4.-2 - the planetary abbatoir capital -> abattoir
  • 183.0.1 nested quote: so off you go!" -> '
  • 203.4.1 Waterhouse serries up and down -> eddies (may be correct: serry means "to press together especially in ranks")
  • 212.-1.1 - identified, on his car, -> card
  • 235.2.-1 liveable for any more advanced organism. -> livable
  • 237.3.9 In the fourth, B and O give 16+2=18 which is S. -> Q
  • 240.3.3 Its spreadsheets, are palimpsests, linked to -> delete comma
  • 252.-1.1 "He stills pops into -> still
  • 282.11.1 - missing quote: Eb considers it carefully. "Yes."
  • 298.-2.3 - stubbornly and annoying taut. -> annoyingly
  • 319.3.7 - reminisces for a few minute -> minutes
  • 336.0.4 Shit. Shit Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. -> Shit. Shit.
  • 341.7.1 "So are many things that belong in a museum," Lawrence says. -> Alan
  • 342.1.1 - missing quote: "They are building - ...
  • 354.-2.1 - Andrew Loeb is 9E03, not RIST 9303.
  • 357.-1.-7 - (for example) Have Mind One -> Hive
  • 380.3.3 - Kapitänleutnant Beck -> Oberleutnant zur See Beck (he has not been promoted)
  • 385.-3.3 The scattered clumps of businessmen, begin to draw closer -> remove comma
  • 391.-6.1 - remove space: ( a week later)
  • 409.3.-3 exposing his back to Shaftoe The sleeves -> missing period
  • 414.2.3 - Denamark is just south of Norway -> Denmark
  • 416.-1.5 - Gunter Bischoff -> Günter Bischoff
  • 416.3.-2 - men were wounded by canon fire -> cannon
  • 419.-3.4 - trying not to side off the deck -> slide
  • 437.-1.11 - "The why didn't you?" -> Then
  • 440.4.3 - It is more eliptical. -> elliptical
  • 447.2.2 - whenever then sun is up -> the
  • 458.1.1 - the Shaftoe's colorful and ever-enlarging cast -> the Shaftoes' or Shaftoe's
  • 461.4 (54 is not twice the number of letters in the alphabet.)
  • 462.-2.1 - folds the flapss back -> flaps
  • 467.-2.-3 Kapitänleutenant -> Kapitänleutnant
  • 467.-1.3 - Oberleutnant-zur-See Beck -> Oberleutnant zur See Beck
  • 468.1.-5 - the depths charges -> depth
  • 474.3.4 - "Mein liebchen" -> "Mein Liebchen" (or: "Mein Liebster")
  • 477.0.6 - worst of all possible words -> worlds
  • 480.1.8 $o=~s/.chr(( -> $o=~s/./chr((
  • 482.0.9 he commences a Magallanian circumnavigation -> Magellanian
  • 483.3.-5 - whether this it is pathetic self-delusion
  • 534.10.2 - then crawlsl to the far end of the cabin -> crawls
  • 535.12.4 - missing quote: millions of other Germans."
  • 541.7.4 Shaftoe is started by how bad -> startled
  • 558.-2.1 - of the gabmit -> gambit
  • 560.-1.-1 - the solider straddles him -> soldier
  • 574.2.5 - the General -> The
  • 583.-1.7 the almost totally empty U-Haul track -> truck
  • 615.6.5 - he would at least look at the incoming the Zeroes -> remove
  • 627.-1.-3 - dinging room set -> dining
  • 632.6.4 - his parent's value-plotting work -> parents'
  • 680.5.1 - ending comma should be a period
  • 685.1.-3 - twelve-bolt adapter for the laptop -> twelve-volt
  • 690.-2.3 - carrying a battering ran -> ram
  • 695.1.3 - Gotto Dengo is keeping in his head -> Goto
  • 701.3.3 - is simple 0.4 times -> simply
  • 706.-5.1 - crytosystem -> cryptosystem
  • 707.11.4 - nonsese -> nonsense
  • 764.5.3 - "Hang in their, sport." -> there
  • 771.-2.4 - His sniffles once. -> He
  • 826.0.23 grep ndo (meaningless file name) - (another meaningless file name) -> >
  • 827.-2.2 - LATTITUDE -> LATITUDE
  • 888.3.1 - An irridescent bright blue bird -> iridescent
  • 890.2.4 - That's he's really good -> That
  • back dust cover.3 A cross between Necromancer and Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. -> Neuromancer

Nitpicks?

  • 186.-2.-2 - missing space: with ice to 10C.KEEP PH 7.5
  • 229.-1.2 - turn of brackish ice water -> tun
  • 359.4.4 - There wasn't that many women
  • 696.2.-2 - The General, but not DM...
  • 869.-2.3 - taking his boxer shorts along with.

Character voice?

  • 219.1.2 - metabolic furnace het up.
  • 449.8.1 - "in" -> "In."

Language errors

  • p. 143, 288, 491 "Beobachtung Dienst" -> "Beobachtungsdienst".

A typical error when translating an English expression word by word to German. Rule to remember: German nouns consist of one word. You don't separate words like in other languages, but glue them together. Sometimes, if it serves pronounciation, an "s" is added. * p. 199 "EINUNDZWANZIGSTPANZERDIVISIONBERICHTETKEINEBESONDEREREREIGNISSE" -> "EINUNDZWANZIGSTEPANZERDIVISIONMELDETKEINEBESONDERENVORKOMMNISSE"

There are two errors: First, the translation made word by word ignores case markers used in German. If written grammatically correct, the mesage would be "Einundzwanzigste Panzerdivision berichtet keine besonderen Ereignisse". But this isn't the military jargon actually used in German. The standard wording is "meldet keine besonderen Vorkommnisse". Note that this correction would also affect the encrypted version on p. 198. * p. 207 "Übersetzenseehafenstadt" (appears twice) -> "Seehafenstadt".

"Seehafenstadt" itself is fine, but the "Übersetzen" part doesn't make any sence in German. "übersetzen" in maritime context means "to cross (a river, a lake, the sea)". So perhaps Stephenson meant "the sea harbour city used to cross the sea". Note that "übersetzen" generally means "to translate". More information would be needed in order to provide a better translation. * p. 292 "Papers and other bureaucratic detritus are floating everywhere, written in the occult Gothic script that Waterhouse associates with Rudy."

In 1943, searching a German submarine, Waterhouse finds letters and document, all written in the Fraktur typeface. However, the written Fraktur typeface had been prohibited by the Nazis in January 1941 because of its alleged Jewish (!) origin (see Antiqua-Fraktur-Streit in the German Wikipedia). Although it is not impossible, it is yet quite improbable that a submarine at this time would contain only documents using the Fraktur typeface. * p. 373, 374, 406 addictive, süchtig etc.

Root's explanation is totally wrong. The adjective "süchtig" derives from "Sucht" ("addiction"), not from "Suche" ("search"). A common translation for "seeking" is "suchend". Furthermore, "Sucht" and "Suche" have a different etymological background, so the words aren't even related to each other. Another common expression for "süchtig" is "abhängig" ("dependent"), so even if a German (here: Beck) does not know the word "morphine-addictive", he won't come up with "morphium-seeky" but at least speak of "morphium-dependent". Germans have (and use) nouns in this context like "Süchtiger" or "Abhängiger", also. * p. 379 "Gott in Himmel" -> "Mein Gott".

Another result of translating word by word from English to German. "God in Heaven" would be translated as "Gott im Himmel". You always use "im" here; "im" being "in dem" ("in the"). However, although this expression is grammatically correct, it is not used. A common expression is "Mein Gott" ("My God"). * p. 410 gold, Gold, Geld

It is quite improbable that a German would mix up "gold" and "Geld" ("money"). The German word for "gold" is "Gold", and although the spoken versions have different vowels, "gold" sounds still much more similar to "Gold" than to "Geld". (A typical German accent even indicates that the speaker is unaware of a difference between these "o" sounds.) * p. 492 "Wehrmachtnachrichtungenverbindungen" -> "Wehrmachtnachrichtenverbindungen"

You can't put "-ung" after "Nachricht(en)" ("message(s)"). * p. 498, 503 "Herr Doktor Professor" -> "Herr Professor Doktor"

If you want to mention all the titles, then you'll have to do it in this order. However, it is most common just to say "Professor" without the "Herr" and the "Doktor". * p. 902 "in that old-fashioned Gothic lettering that the Nazis loved so much"

This is wrong, as explained above. (See correction regarding p. 292.)