BLAME THE PRINTER.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1923, Page 16

BLAME THE PRINTER.

TRAGEDY TURNED TO-FAROE. A well-known London evening newspaper, in reporting recently a really very serious court case, turned tragedy into farce by stating that a witness had oeen staying with her “aren’ts.” However conscientious typesetters and proof-readers may be, such ludicrous mistakes are constantly - creeping into print. Often the omission of a single letter is the cause of a smile, as, for example, in the report of a case in which a witness was 1 made to say, “Mine is a very dangerous trade; 1 am a widow-cleaner.” A more unhappy result of omitting a letter was the sentence in a paper which said of a returned traveller: "His friends were surprised to’fi’ d him unhanged.” In other words, the sea had not made so much difference as the “c.” Even the annoyance of this victim of a printer’s error could not compare with that of the singer, Who saw himself billed as the “yell-known local tenor.” Or of the advertiser who beheld his advertisement printed: “To let, four rooms, including kitchen, uAe of bathroom. Not water.” Still less’ of the happy father wh advertisement of the latest addition to his family read:“At nursing home. To Mr and Mrs —, a son- Both well A ship of the old bloke.” ONLY ONE LETTER. 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 of four thousand democrats rent the air.” Another unhappy alteration of a single letter occurred in a serious sermon. According to the local paper, the Dean had said, “Drunkenness is jolly.” After all, a “j” is only an “f” upside down. There must have been some spritely Puck taking possession of the printer when he came across remarks of the Dean’s, because a few days later the omission of a single comma finally denounced the worthy man as a drunkard. The unfortunate divine was made to say: “Only last Sabbath a young man died suddenly, while I was endeavouring to preach the Word in a state of beastly intoxication.”

A celebrated poet of unimpeachable character very 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 in print he —a bachelor —had written, “Now the old woman breaks out afresh.”

One apt misprint among the many that are attributed to’ provincial papers was that referring to the famine in Russia- It stated: “The peasants in the Ural district are committing crimes to escape salvation." TYPIST’S BLUNDERS.

But though the printer receives the great burden of blame for mistakes like these, the stenographers, too, can do their share. Very often mistakes occur in transcribing owing to the symbols for different sounds being very similar. This would explain the famous example of the eloquent M. P., who saw his speech in print as: “We have broken our breeches (bridges), we have burnt our boots (boats); honour no less than other considerations forbids to us retreat.” Sometimes, too, a careless or an overworked typist may perpetrate mistakes which reach a delighted public. Recently at a university a professor who had caught a chill instructed his secretary over the ’phone to type out a notice to that effect for the students to read. When it appeared the notice was completely altered by a "d” standing for an “1.” It read: "iProfessor X. will be unable to meet his classes to-day as he has a child ” A college wag hastened to add: “Both doing well.” The unfortunate typist, who was severely reprimanded when the professor returned, in her distress typed out another error: “Professor X. will meet his lasses as usual at 11.30.” Possibly the very best instance of the disastrous effect a wigging has on some workers is the story of the editor who described two reverent professors as "bibliophiles.” The printer, who had evidently never heard of the word, changed it to “bibulous old files.” An indignant letter of protest came from the university- The editor hastened to apologise,, and in his next issue remarked: “The learned gentlemen are too fastidious.” At the “same time he took the opportunity of giving the printer a piece of his mind. To his unspeakable horror, when his latest remark came out it read: "The learned gentlemen are two fast idiots.”