BLAME THE PRINTER.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 13, 10 January 1924, Page 3

BLAME THE PRINTER.

;TRAGEDY TURNED TO FARCE j A well-known London evening j newspaper, in reporting’ recently r 'really very serious court case, turned ! I tragedy into .farce by stating- that s I witness had been staying with her ’ ! “ aren’ts.” j 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 made to say, “ Mi no. 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 find hi in unhanged.” In other words, the sea had not matte so much difference as the “ c.” Even the annoyance of I his victim of a printer’s error could not compare with that of a singes', 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, use of bathroom. Not water.” = Still less of the happy father whose . 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 j reporter of an American journal was 'once made to say: “At the close or j this magnificent oration the snouts of j four thousand democrats rent the j air.” ! Another unhappy alteration of a J single letter occurred in a serious j sermon. According to the local paper [Die Dean had said: “Drunkenness is i jolly.” After all, a “j” is only an |“ f upside down. There must have been some spritcly 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 Sab-/ bath a young man died suddenly, while T was endeavouring to preach the Word in a state of beastly intoxication.” A celebrated poet of unimpeachable

1 character very nearly lost his reputa |p§|| i IS S j Ksl|Sl , .• ' / ’" -' “ I >o H ■ r WHj H |tuH 11818 i i Hi b he wants, he will probably get his purchases at prices well belo\y their proper value. The great thing, so young W- informed me, is. to be on good terms with one’s bank, so as to be able to get the cash at once when one wants it. Life in these circumstances becomes a sort of log-jumping. Each stage in the value of the mark is like a log which carries one on a stage until the moment comes to jump again. It is or; exciting and even exhilarating • if one h • the knack of it but woo t>'. Ihe man who misses his fool - ing and goes undo;'. The people to be pitied are those who, through ago or • temperament, cannot, get the knack, j They must sell what they .have—ser- . vice, if there is anything to which they can turn their hand; if not, their furniture, pictures, clothes, and anything they have. So you find elderly ladies taking in sewing from their bakers’ wives, and , shabby individuals who have obvious- j ly been gentlemen, addressing envelopes on office stools. This is the social revolution taking its course. It is a pitiful sight to see, but there is far less of .ii than one might suppose.