I was in a hurry yesterday morning — it was 9:13 and my appointment was at 9:20 — so with one foot out the door, I clicked on the Publish button that posted my blog entry for all to see. I had that vague gnawing sense that something was not quite right, but there was no time to think. Off I zoomed while self-administering a quick pat on the back for having blogged bright early. The day was full and fruitful, and I never got a chance to check my email until late evening. Here’s a note sent by one of best friends (and the only message I received on this subject):
Please consider my correction of your blog’s headline as honoring the (holy smokes!) spirit of former Vice President Dan Quayle. Mr. Quayle is appropriately disrespected partly for his inability to speak “Latin” in Latin America.
Those of us who grew up Roman Catholic may have a slight advantage when it comes to recognizing famous Latin phrases…but I think the phrase you were praying for was “mea culpa,” not “Mia culpa.” The salient difference is whether you were claiming that “it’s my fault” or “it’s Mia’s fault.”
I don’t know whether Mia is a regular subscriber to your blog or not, but you have to be careful about throwing around unsubstantiated accusations these days. Well, unless you work for a network news department.
Your replacement headline should be, by all rights, “mea maxima culpa,” I think. Not having a Latin dictionary on your bookshelf is indeed a most grevious [sic] error.
Actually, more grievous is having a dictionary and not using it. Double oops.
I hope that Mia is not feeling litigious. As for the rest of you, I pray that you will forgive me too.