I misspelled a word recently. No big deal really, happens all the time. But this particular case made me think about something else.There is a bank in Slovenia belonging to the Hypo Alpe Adria Group. The bank has adopted a hippopotamus as their symbol and, of course, uses it in advertising.
Well, I rarely watch TV and refuse to watch commercials at all. I don't read advertisements in papers. And yet, the image of the river horse somehow connected in my mind to the name of the bank. So writing 'hyppo' instead of 'hippo' came quite naturally to me.
They say you need to see a specific piece of information at least six times before you are able to recognise it. I suppose I must have seen that ad often enough to have it etched in my memory. Which makes me wonder how much more rubbish is stuffed in my brain taking place of more useful information. Damn the power of advertising!
