“Whatever.” : A new language model?

The Atlantic, Cambridge University Press ran a full-page advertisement, inviting readers to "PAMPER YOUR INTELLECT", recommending titles that might serve as mental spas (p. 97). But instead of a pampering, the discerning reader was dealt an unkind blow. The ad contained no fewer than six proofreading errors: proper names were misspelled (e.g., Immanuel Kant became "Immanuel Kent"), common nouns were treated no less kindly (e.g., "Environment" degenerated into "Environment"), and subtitles on book jackets didn't always match up with those listed in the text (e.g., "My Father's Life with Bipolar Disorder" morphed into "My Father's Life with Bipolar Disease"). Did Cambridge simply have a bad day or is editorial sloppiness becoming ubiquitous? Casual observation suggests the latter. Look no further than official signage for the Washington, DC metro system. The name of my university's subway stop appears 1 Cambridge University received a charter from Henry VIII in 1534 to publish books. However, the first book actually printed appeared in 1584 (Black 2000).