[HPforGrownups] Ancestor / descendant

[digger]

No: HPFGUIDX 109148

Pat wrote:

> 
> Pat here:
> 
> I'm going to correct myself here.
> 
> I checked my hard back and my paperback again, and here's the really 
> weird thing.  In the hardback, (US, p.332) it says descendant--and 
> the date is 1999.  In the paperbook, (US, p. 332) it says ancestor--
> and that one was actually later--printed in 2000.  So we are still 
> left with the question of why they would change it incorrectly.  
> Odd, but very interesting--especially since she said deliberate 
> mistake.
> 
> Pat
> 


"Deliberate mistake" is a colloquial joke phrase in British English.

It means "oops, well spotted, I made a mistake, but lets have a joke and 
  pretend I did it deliberately, even though we all know it was really a 
genuine goof"

So I (as a brit) read it as ancestor WAS a genuine mistake and she is 
openly acknowledging it in a humorous way, albeit understandable only to 
Brits.