In Australia we call a baby pacifier a “dummy”. (Apart from anything else, most babies have less trouble relating to that word than to “pacifier”.)

We also have a colloquial expression: “spitting the dummy”.

It refers to a toddler’s violent display of righteous indignation, when they spit out their dummy with a “so there!” attitude and facial expression. Parents are supposed to be suitably chastened and reluctant to repeat the offending behaviour that led to such displeasure on the part of their infant. (In your dreams, kiddo!)

The expression is also used to describe adult ego tantrums, when people get upset about something trivial and over-react in an infantile fit of pique. It’s almost always about bruised ego.

It’s an expression that instantly reduces the tantrum to its true relevance. In other words, it raises a very real question about which is the real dummy… the object being spat, or the childish egotist spitting it?

Rob Toth, a Canadian internet marketer who has done very well, spat the dummy BIG time today when he replied to several people who dared to point out an important error he’d made in the subject line of his previous pitch email to his list. It was an important message promoting Dan Kennedy’s upcoming event. (Dan is one of the most respected direct marketers and copywriters in the world.)

Rob used the word “elude” (to avoid, escape) instead of the word “allude” (hint at, suggest). I was one of those who wrote to him, saying:

Rob: a quick clarification:
Allude = to refer to
Elude = to avoid
Cheers,
John

No criticism implied. Just a friendly pointer for the future. I have no idea what the other respondents wrote.

The effect on Rob’s ego was glaringly obvious in today’s message-in-reply: scorn, ridicule and odium heaped upon the writers for missing the point and focusing on the trivial issue of incorrect vocabulary.

It was a truly spectacular “dummy spit” by someone who aspires to be like his hero, Dan Kennedy… a copywriter who really understands the critical importance of using the correct words in headlines, especially when 85% of readers never read more than the headline. (The subject line of an email pitch is the headline — and it determines whether the recipient reads further as much as the name of the sender.)

I’ve been online since mid-1996. I’ve been a professional copywriter since 1966. I appreciate glaring errors in headlines being pointed out, so I can avoid repetition. (Mind you, I prefer to check spelling, vocabulary, syntax and grammar before publishing… much less painful, especially for a fragile ego.)

I’ve had my share of mightily-offended visitors writing to express outrage at a miniscule misspelling or punctuation gaffe. With around 100 web sites of my own, some with thousands of pages, I know how easy it can be to offend such pedantic souls, whether or not they were ever likely to be a customer. They “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel” in grand style, accusing me of being slightly behind and to the left of Satan himself for offending their delicate sensibilities in such unforgivable ways.

But I try not to react in the same infantile manner.

If my own dummy disappears, I never have to look too far to find another, even bigger, one.