A New York Times article discussing recent efforts by U.S. policy makers to circumvent an oil crisis states that in 1973, "gasoline pedaled under the table in some cases sold for over $1 a gallon." Clearly, if gasoline was being transported by bicycle, the oil crisis was even more severe than we imagined at the time. Of course, the Times meant to say "peddled" (sold under informal or itinerant conditions), not "pedaled" (transported by means of a mechanism powered by a foot lever or treadle). In this day of widespread reliance on computerized spelling checkers, writers (and proofreaders) need to be especially vigilant for homophones like pedalers/peddlers and grisly/grizzly--because the software won't catch any erroneous choices.