BLAME THE PRINTER

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6442, 24 January 1924, Page 5

BLAME THE PRINTER

Time and again, a slip of the printer will prove the truth of the saw: “From the sublime to the ridiculous is but one step,”—or'one letter.

A reporter of an American .journal was once made to say: “At the close of this magnificent oration the snouts rent the air.”

The unhappy alteration of a single letter occurred in a serious sermon. According to the local paper the Dean was made to say: “Drunkenness is jolly.” After all, a “j” is only an “f” upside down.

The “Printer’s Devil” was blamed for inserting the wrong letter in a cable message in connection with the Indian famine some years ago. The message was intended to read: “A large shipment of oats has been despatched.” The “divil” made it read “cats.”

The omission of a comma made a worthy Dean say: “Only last Sabbath a young man died suddenly, while I was was endeavoring to preach the Word in a state of beastly intoxication.”

A celebrated poet of unimpeachable character, nearly lost his reputation through a printer’s error. He had written: “Now the old wound breaks out afresh,” but was horrified to see that he—a bachelor—had written: “Now the old woman breaks out afresh.”