The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-03-22
TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS.
How Sentences are Reconstructed
by Guileless Printers.

The typographical errors found in
newspapers, magazines, and books form
inexhaustible subject of discoYd. In
nearly every issue of newspaper some
thing "crops up" to harrow the soul Of
the editor and to particularly vex the
temper of the author of the article in
which the error occurs. The reporter
who takes pride in the beauty of his
penmanship is usually extremely SEN
sitive with regard to "bulls," and he
frequently suffers the humiliation of q
perverted sentence in his compositions
The compositor and proof-reader seem
to conspfre to render his work ridicu-
lous. 1t is a melancholy fact that the
author who rites most plainly suffers
more at the hands of the COM
positor and Intelligent proof-reader"
than a careless writer. The reason for
this is that with plain manuscript no
care is necessary to read it, and those
who handle it are apt to become care
less, while with "Choctaw" or Greek, !"
as bad manuscript is called in the COM
posing room, much time is spent in
deciphering it and it nearly always
comes out all right.
A few specimens of what can be done
in the way of twisting and turning sem
fences and of the misconception of what
the !author really wrote would perhaps
prove interesting. A religious news
paper short time ago, referring to the
Rev. D. Noah Hunt Schenck's death,
quoted, concerning a different type of
minister from the lamented Episco-
palian divine, Tennyson's lines !;
"White-handed, snowy-banded priests, {"
The types made it: "White-headed,
snowy bearded priests" A daily paper,
giving an account of a Masonic lodge of
sorrow, spoke of 1.-The mourners behind
the coffee and the beer" instead of the
''coffin and bier" and gravely stated that
70, 600 spectators were present." mean
ing, of course, spectators. In an
obituary of the cele rated Captain
Rogers newspaper said that she mar
ried his surviving widow in 1857" An
other newspaper inquired: How about
his other widows ?"
AT the funeral of Quincy Coveyhow,"
a Memphis newspaper says, "the two
wives of the deceased and their numer-
GUS fights for the place of mourning next
the hearse." Mr.. Geoghegan's fame
seems to have reached Tennessee A
day to paragraph the opium joints. I"
Opinion joints" however, struck the
typo" and proof-reader as a hand
somer expression, and so it was allowed
to stand. A Mass achusetts paper re-
Gently contained this item: 1.-The his
toric South church at Worcester cele-
brated its one hundred and sixty-ninth
last night with supper,
followed by remarks by the present and
past pastors" 1t was fortunate to have
some of the past pastors present. but to
assume that the gentleman who
preached there $50 years ago took sup
per with them is too ghostly for belief.
A Chicago newspaper not long ago in
formed its readers that the ministers of
that city spent the hour of the usual
in listening to mortality re-
ports from the churches" Of course
monthly" reports was intended,
A rellg1ous newspaper has this griev-
ance against secular contemporary:
Zone of the daily papers mentioned the
other day that at the Monday meeting
OF reformed pastors, paper was read,
'Ecce Jesus As no such paper
was read inquiry was made as to the
source OF the report, and it was
ascertalned that the amateur reporter
had been told that it was an exegesis.
AS he had never before heard the word,
but had heard of Ecce Celeum, Ecce
Deus, etc., he readily mistook the word
Tor Ecce Jesus, and so published it,
Many funny things have appeared in
type, some of which the argus-eyed
proof-reader discovered and corrected,
but, unfortunately, many more were al
lowed to be printed. 1t not an uncom-
mon thing to see the word "Macduff'' ap-
pear in type as mike Duff, Drunk
ards convention for Dunkards and
'Faro's" hall for Tara's hall. A CORE
spondent, no doubt, thought he care
fully wrote Last Sleep of Argyll" but
between the compositor and proof
reader and the substitution of an for
an in the first word and an b for an
in the second the reader quite lost the
beauty of the authors reference. A b
for an m in speaking of the good old
hymn Nearer, my God, to Thee"
brought punishment on the proof
reader who temporarily had lost the
lynx-l1ke qualities of his eve. "Pyro-
technic School" for polotechnic, House
of "Coons" for Commons, curious
tricks" for crimson trunks, "Coroner's"
JOurnalforC OurierJourndL," JabusC Carson
for Julius Cesar, "Gen. Theodore Sem"
for General Theological Seminary,
9 Athletic Dutch policeman" for Allan
TIC Dock policeman. sO'Hawa" for
Ottawa, caught hot oliver" for liner
are specimens of the different ways in
which worthy authors have had their
misconstrued.
In an article in which the author sup
posed he was making as lucid an expla-
nation of the comet as was possible, he
wrote: The nucleus of a comet bears
to its nebulous and expansive tail, +" but
the printer thus improved it. 1.-THE
nucleus of cornet bears to its nebulous
and expressive tune"