Near the end of the morning prayers - daily and Shabat - we read two paragraphs where the rabbis (תנא דבי אליהו and רבי חנינא) say to read something written one way in another way.
I think there ought to be another אל תקרי
In the morning korbanote we read a list of אשמות (guilt offerings*). These אשמות include
אשם שפחה חרופה (the guilt offering for a betrothed maid servant*) that I think should read אשם שיחה חריפה, "guilt for harsh words."
I think we are much more likely to be guilty of using harsh words, hurtful words, than we are likely to molest an engaged servant girl.
In many sedurim שפחה is translated "female slave," at least in the beginning of the morning blessings. I base this on the blessings in which a man praises G-d for not making him a slave and a woman praises G-d for the same thing; only the term עבד is changed to שפחה. The Artscroll does not make the distinction, although it does separate the sexes for another blessing.
My ancient Megiddo two-volume dictionary lists the English translation of שפחה as (in order) maidservant, handmaid; female slave, BUT it translates שפחות as (again in order) status of a female slave, bondage, serfdom.
Granted, Hebrew is stingy with words and in many cases is downright ambiguous, but my point is that while some maids are molested (as anyone who watches English period pieces on tv knows), it is a great deal more likely to hurt someone with "a tongue sharp as a sliver of obsidian" (from Three Sisters (Charlie Moon Series #12)).
Besides, how many of us have maids, and the אשמות are a collection of possibilities much like the list of sins we recite on Yom Kippur.
* Indicates translation from the Artscroll Seder Ahavat Shalom for Ashkenazim
Hebrew is from the Moroccan
סדור וזרח השמש
