I am not sure that I do not begin to like the correction of a mistake,
even when it involves my having shown much ignorance and stupidity, as
well as I like hitting on a new idea. It does comfort one so to be able
to feel sure that one knows how to tumble and how to retreat promptly and
without chagrin. Being bowled over in inaccuracy, when I have tried to
verify, makes me careful. But if I have not tried to verify and then
turn out wrong, this, if I find it out, upsets me very much and I pray
that I may be found out whenever I do it.
Jutland and “Waitee”
I made a mistake in _The Authoress of the Odyssey_ [in a note on p. 31]
when I said “Scheria means Jutland—a piece of land jutting out into the
sea.” Jutland means the Land of the Jutes.
And I made a mistake in _Alps and Sanctuaries_ [Chap. III], speaking of
the peasants in the Val Leventina knowing English, when I said “One
English word has become universally adopted by the Ticinesi themselves.
They say ‘Waitee’ just as we should say ‘Wait’ to stop some one from
going away. It is abhorrent to them to end a word with a consonant so
they have added ‘ee,’ but there can be no doubt about the origin of the
word.” The Avvocato Negri of Casale-Monferrato says that they have a
word in their dialetto which, if ever written, would appear as “vuaitee,”
it means “stop” or “look here,” and is used to attract attention. This,
or something like it, no doubt is what they really say and has no more to
do with waiting than Jutland has to do with jutting.