Sometimes a name is spelled correctly—almost. A single pair of letters may be reversed during typesetting, transcription, or OCR processing, creating a variation that looks obvious to the human eye but completely invisible to a search engine. These transposition errors occur when letters switch places within a word, producing names that appear legitimate at a glance but fail to match expected search results. Because the mistake often affects only one or two letters, researchers may overlook the variation entirely, assuming the record simply does not exist.
Distortion Type
Swapped Letters or Reversed Order
Why it Happens
Human error in typesetting or OCR auto-correction.
Why it Matters
“Griffin” becomes “Grififn,” “Martin” becomes “Maritn.” OCR preserves the wrong sequence, breaking search matches.
Search Strategies
- Use fuzzy-match search if available.
- Search short stems (“Grif*”).
- Scan headlines manually — typesetters rarely repeated the same typo twice.
Example
A researcher searches for newspaper references to William Martin but finds surprisingly few results despite knowing he lived in the community for decades. After manually browsing a newspaper page, they discover an article describing his election to a local committee. The surname appears as Maritn, with the letters t and i reversed. In another issue, a member of the Griffin family is listed as Grififn, likely the result of a typesetting mistake. Because OCR faithfully indexed the misspelled versions, conventional searches for the correct surnames failed to locate the articles. By searching partial stems and reviewing likely newspaper sections manually, the researcher uncovers multiple records that had been hidden behind simple letter transpositions.
Key Takeaway
One transposed pair of letters is enough to hide an otherwise correct name. When a search comes up empty, try looking for the letters in the wrong order.
The Newspaper Distortions Field Guides
Discover all 25 Newspaper Distortions, companion Field Notes, videos, and audio lessons in the Field Guides Collection