TO THE POINT

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 23, 11 June 1908, Page 37

TO THE POINT

The postal authorities of the United States, as well as those of Great Britain, for a great many years experienced great difficulty with- the word 'only' ' on postal cards. The efforts to avoid clumsiness and ambiguity taxed the ingenuity of the post office people to .the utmost. . The Post Office Department- made six attempts tos find a brief, elegant, and unambiguous legend for the card. An early postal ' card was inscribed : ' Nothing but the address can be placed on this side ' which was neither true -nor elegant. ' Nothing but the. address to be on this side ' was more... to the point. But as it looked bad to • the authorities, they next evolved this "legend : ' Write only the address on this side.' This was objected to on the" ground that it barred the use of a typewriting ' machine. ' Write the address only' on this side, the message on the other,' came next, and was promptly.criticised as being both clumsy and ambiguous. - Then the word- ' only ' was dropped, but without much improvement. Finally Uncle Sam's Official gave' up the struggle to be original. The card then adopted and now in use bears- ~this- inscription : ' The space below is for --the address onJy.'