USVI-On-Line

I picked up An Embarrassment of Mangoes this past weekend. I finished it last night (being sick and stuck in an airport will help that).

Anyway...she mentions being docked at "Watermelon Cay off St John"
That's not a typo by me or the book. Is there a WaterMelon Cay in addition to WaterLemon of was that a big "no-no" by them?

Also, the writer mentions being in Coral Harbor, St John. I've always heard of it as Coral Bay. I have not been out that way much so I don't know for certain.

All in all a decent enough book. The Blanchard's book is similar but better in my opinion.

So...typos or have I missed a name along the way?

It's a mistake. We have friends that call it Watermelon Key all the time. I've stopped correcting them. They also call the island St. John's...

Cheers, RickG

Wow - funny how your brain plays tricks on you.

Until I began doing research for this trip I'd never even heard of Waterlemon Cay. And now I've read countless references to it, seen the location on a number of maps, and even was telling a friend that I may want to take a dinghy out to it.

And if you'd asked me the name, I would have said Watermelon Cay.

I guess I need to read slower...or think faster!

Is it then OK for me to write a sternly worded email to the writer then correcting her? I mean...how does that get printed in a "real" book. It's not like a blog rant or message board post. They're chock full of typos and bad information as we know. Did I say that out loud?

I think it is a pretty common mistake, as it the "St. Johns" thing. In fact, just last week I was speaking with a coworker who was telling me all about her wonderful vacation to "St. Johns" and how I should visit sometime.

I'm so glad this thread came along to call it to my attention.

I cringe a little when I hear people say "St. John's" and I'd like as little as possible to be the cringee(!?), and I can just imagine the when I'd say "we saw some amazing sea life snorkeling out by Watermelon Cay".

Not that I won't still say something stupid, but that's one less thing...

pipanale wrote:Is it then OK for me to write a sternly worded email to the writer then correcting her? I mean...how does that get printed in a "real" book. It's not like a blog rant or message board post. They're chock full of typos and bad information as we know. Did I say that out loud?

I recently heard author Katherine Hall Page answer the question of mistakes in a book at our annual Friends of the Library Annual Meeting. She said by all means let the author know of any errors. The erros can be corrected in subsequent printings.

The waterlemon/watermelon thing is a fairly common screw-up. I suppose one could be "in Coral Harbor" if you were "in" the bay where Coral Bay is located.

Also, I have witnessed some pretty reckless behavior at Waterlemon Cay by people in dinghies, mostly from ignorance, as to proper ettiquette and rules regarding where and how to moor with regards to the safety of the coral. I've even seen dinghies pull all the way up on the cay.[forbidden] [Shoot, Ive even seen some a**h*le pick up a starfish after bringing the dinghy up to the cay]. A lady got in his face before I had a chance to.

JT wrote:The waterlemon/watermelon thing is a fairly common screw-up. I suppose one could be "in Coral Harbor" if you were "in" the bay where Coral Bay is located.

From "St. John Feet Fins and Four-Wheel Drive", page 123...

"The entire bay is named Coral Bay, with different sections being Hurricane Hole, Round Bay and Coral Harbor"

(I was just reading that section last night )

So the Coral Harbor reference may be OK, but the Watermelon reference is probably from an editor who was not familiar with St. John and deciding that Waterlemon MUST be a typo.

I also read "An Embarassment of Mangoes" and really loved the book---I'd commend it to all Caribbean lovers.

Honestly, I sometimes wonder...If you look up St. John on Google maps, you'll see that they have Waterlemon as Watermelon Cay and they have Coral Bay as Coral Harbor. Check it out...

In this day and age misinformation and misuse
of words is rampant. I've heard of the internet
bieng called "The Information Superhighway" but
it often seems more like the "Misinformation Turnpike".

One that drive me nuts (besides hearing the silent "t" in "often" aloud) is using "then" for "than" as in "It was different then we expected it to be" instead of the correct "It was different than we expected it to be". That one seems to be rampant. Probably stems from that "hooked on phonics"
method of learning to read.

By all means, read the "author" the riot act. Better yet, find out who the editor was and suggest a change of career. I can excuse a little ignorance on the web in forums like this but in a published work? No.

peterb wrote:One that drive me nuts (besides hearing the silent "t" in "often" aloud)

Wait... the "t" in "often" is supposed to be silent? Really?

canucknyc wrote:

peterb wrote:One that drive me nuts (besides hearing the silent "t" in "often" aloud)

Wait... the "t" in "often" is supposed to be silent? Really?

Yes, and "bieng" is spelled "being".