Marliyn (for Marilyn)

I like the fact that freckles and moles can also be known as "beauty marks." I remember counting mine with swelling pride, after first being apprised of that fascinating factoid as a child. (What a feat of pigmentation public relations that must have been, to have gone from being a minor skin abnormality to an actual official mark of beauty.) Alas, I wasn't blessed to boast a strategically placed birthmark smack-dab on my face (the first place most people tend to look for signs of pulchritude), but I did observe a happy sprinkling of small brown spots dotting my limbs like a form of protective camoflauge I hadn't quite noticed before. Along with a surprisingly large Lima bean-shaped one on my butt! (I feel pretty, oh so pretty...) And speaking of our other mole-bearing beauty here (who it appears even has a facial piercing named after her), a friend of mine recently tried to imitate the way his old Chinese girlfriend (and other Chinese people) pronounce the words "Marilyn Monroe." It was one of the most curiously delightful things I'd ever heard. (This title, found while searching for the typo Marliyn, kind of hints at it: Manga Maririn Monr¯o. It's a 2003 graphic novel, just in case you're wondering, in which "the lost son of Marilyn Monroe searches for the truth about his mother's death.") In honor of Marilyn, who loved to read books but could also be a bit ditzy, let's all try and make our catalogs a little more beautiful today, by marking and correcting this typo, which was counted three times in OhioLINK, and 41 times in WorldCat.

(Marilyn Monroe and her famous mole, courtesy of Wikpedia.)

Carol Reid