TO SPELL " CUD."

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 841, 22 July 1879, Page 2

TO SPELL " CUD."

THE WORD THAT BOTHERED EDITORS AND PRINTERS. The other day the office boy came up into the Hawk-Eye sanctum with an expression of grave concern on his face. He gazed thoughtfully around the room for a moment, and then asked : " How do you spell ' end ' ?" "What kind of oud ?" somebody asked in a oareless uninterested manner. the boy wpUed. "the kind that a oow chews. Oud j now do you spell it ?" The city editor looked, up, paused and glanced anxiously over towards the managing editor. " That ian't.local, is it, Mr. Waite i" he asked. " Yes," was the reply, and the city man, after a little hesitation, remarked that he had never seen the word in print, but he believed it was spelled "cudd.". A long silence qnsued, and the managing editor, feeling that the question had not been answered to the general satisfaction, and feeling that all eyes were upon him, said that he believed that it was generally mispronounced, and that he believed that the proper orthography was "cood." The congregation then looked toward the proof-reader, who said he was quite confident that it was spelled " gwud." The manager was summoned from the counting-room, and said he was of the opinion that the word' was of Latin derivation and was spelled " cuid." A telegram was sent to the funny man, who was up in Beloifc, Wisconsin, but he thinly vieled his lawful ingnorance by replying that ' ' you didn't spell it all ; you chewed it." The foreman was sent for, and on his arrival into the council chamber, he said promptly that .it was spelled '"cnld." a In answer to the telegram sent him, the editor-in-chief replied from the capital that it was spalled with a lower case c. The pressman came up in response to a subpoena, and said that his father kept a stock-farm, and he knew you spelled it"kud." The investigation dosed with the testimony of this last witness, and the office boy went down stairs- and resumed the duties of his honourable and responsible office. But he couldn't clearly make out whether he had or had not learned how to spell "cud."