Riffing on a typo in the name of the opera Turandot

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Jun 5, 2025 - 02:20

I turned on the radio in the car and heard what was identified by the Radio Data System information as a performance by the Metropolitan Opera of New York of Puccini’s Turnadot. Whoever entered the information introduced a typo, because the correct spelling is Turandot.¹

I joked, “Oh no, it’s opera! Turnadoff!”

When I related this clever pun to an old friend (who is now an orchestra conductor), he came back with this joke:

“Estate of Puccini here. We’d like to lodge a copyright violation.”

“No, we’re in compliance, Turnadot is Fair Play.”

I don’t know whether to compliment him or berate him.

¹ It’s hard to search the Internet for misspellings, because all the Web search engines “helpfully” fix the spelling for you, even if you tell them “No really, I want the misspelling.” I did find a Web site that listed the Metropolitan Opera performance as Turnadot, so who knows. Maybe it’s a thing now.

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