That's How It Happened

Almost 3 years ago, I first spotted a misspelling of "segway" for "segue". As I speculated then, this error has become widespread since the launch of the Segway HT. I am currently slogging my way through Gravity's Rainbow, which is often suggested as the greatest novel of the 20th century. It's certainly not an easy read. Strangely though on page 70 of my edition, Pynchon writes: "But segway into the Roxbury hillside."
There are only three possibilities to explain this.

1. Pynchon writing in 1973, was thinking about the Segway HT, and later gave the idea and the name to Dean Kamen. Highly implausible.
2. "Segway" is an acceptable variant of "segue". This doesn't seem to be true either. Since Pynchon has used it, sometime soon the OED ought to pick it up though.
3. It is a genuine error on the part of Pynchon, and it has survived proof reading for 30 years.

The logical answer is thus that no-one has ever really bothered to read Gravity's Rainbow before, at least not in my edition. The bunch of pseuds that run the searchable web guide to GR don't seem to have picked up on this anomaly. I feel smug and disappointed all at once.

Update: Kind readers Wax Banks and Andrew point out that this is just a typical example of Pynchon word play. I guess a career in literary scholarship doesn't beckon for me after all. Bonus link: a review of Amazon reviews of GR.

Tags: pynchon, segway