The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-01-01
CURIOUS ERRORS IN TYPE.
Amusing Blunders Which Often Escape the
PrOOfreader's Eve.

CURIOUS ERRORS IN TYPE.
! Amusing Blunders Which Often Escape The
Proofreader's Eye.
Manifold arc the vicissitudcs of tho
manuscript of newspaper writer's.
Many of tho errors revealed in cold
type are extremely comic. The fault
is proportionatcly divided between tho
compassion and the proofrcadcr, al
though the latter prevents many !,
ludicrous blunder from reaching the
public eye. A reporter on Il Bing-
hamton journal. in his account of
ball, intended to say that the belle of
the evening ''lookcd all fait." The
compositor thought he knew better.
and set it up so that it read That the
young lady looked call feet" The
proofrca,ler passed this awful ''bull, "
and the item was thus published. The
effect upon the editor and 'thc belle
of the evening" is concealed from !,
curious public. In Il description of
the study of a popular autllorcss !:
very important little II" was dropped
by the composition and overlooked by
the proofrcadcr, SO that the paper was
made to say that the windows of her
room were "tastcfully decorated with
choice hanging pants" A Minneapo-
lis minister in a recent Sunday sermon
used the expression, "All Europe is
coming here Again the awful com
position, who put il into type, "All Eu-
rope is crying hell" In u report of Il
dinner given by the lsowdoin alumni
of Portland, Me, recently, the mcn,,
was published in full by Il local paper.
and under the heading OF poisson"
QisD the misplacng of II period made
1t appear rather ridiculous. Of course
'boilcd chicken, haibm, ancllovy
sauce" was the piece dc resistance.
but the newspaper saw fit to print it,
"l'"lcd chicken. Halibut, ancllovy
sauce"
IAN expression found It's way into
our colums Yesterday" says Mon
treal paper. .'whicl, we much regret.
In our reference To Sir john Macd.n-
AIDS singularly mistaken remarks
with regard to Sir Richard Cart
wright, the sentence should have read:
Sir John must have been intoxicated
with his brimming honors, etc. The
two words Drumming honorS' appear
cd in print us cumming heroes. y"
Very recently Il critic of Il leading
newspaper wrote Il description of !,
piece produced at the Thalia thcatcr
called ''Dic Flcdcrnaus,' AID the
compositor put it into type, "Dic
FiedrNmans." In tine same article
reference was made To the opera of
"Fra DiavolO,' and still another strllg-
gle by the compositor resulted in
"Fra Travis" y metropolitan re-
porter wrote for bis journal IN :c-
count of church ceremony, and IL
description was given of the appear
ancc OF the chanccl, during which he
used the words, "tlle ALTAR was sur
rounded by supplied fathers" The
compositor improved il. rs he thought,
by putting it INTO type, .'thc altar was
surrounded by scorpions feathers :"
An attempt was made by Il correspond
cnt in Montreal during the excitement
concerning the dcfalcation and flight
Of Emo, who had been seen in IL hotel
in that city IN Il somewhat excited
frame of mind. to say that Emo
walked through the corridors all
night" The compassion went wrong,
the proefrcatcr followed in the same
direction. and the paper was made to
say that "Eno walked the car riders
all night IA partner OF MIR. Mar
quand' has been transformed into ga
partner of the rear guard '.illry Sc
lccted from Il panel in New York"
into ga jury selected from IL panel IN
the dark" ''thc h,lsks which the
swine did eat into ''lhc husks which
the prince did eat. )" rancor, accrbity,"
into "ranconaccrbility. "Red Let
ter Days. into Red Letter Dogs, :"
etc, and the list could be extended
beyond the limits of newspaper space
IL was somewhat annoying to Bos-
ton people to have their city alluded
to. in recent work on Dickens, as the
Hut of the Universe, and also to
readers anywhere, and particularly the
author, when he wrote "Pri>oncr of
Chillon," to have ii appear "Poisoncr
of Children. III am an Englslman
first and am II Catholic always"
were the words written in an accoun,
of an address delivered by gentle
man in The city of New York on II GER
tain occasion. by the substitution Of
rather mild protanc word. the capt
tai l having been somewhat like Il
written u, the compositor formed Il
sentence which was not passed by the
proof-rcadcr. and the community WAS
not proportionalcly shocked. The
blasting Of rocks in the upper part of
the city annoyed the resident, of the
ncighborhood Il good deal, and an a,-
peal was made to the newspapers. A
| reporter addressed. in the course of an
article on the subject, the following
appeal to the commissioners: Gan
not something be done to prevent the
careless and reckless blasting in the
vicinity of Central park9" The sun
joined beautifully complicated SEN
tcncc was the product OF the COM
positor's brain: "Can not something
be done to prevent the camcls and
sheep from blcating i'm the vicinity of
Central park?' The subject of ton
tine insurance has been given much
prominence in the newspapers lately.
! and to some compositors the word does
not seem to be Il familiar one. Tow
line insurance and "routinc insur-
ancc' make their appearance occu-
sionally on the propf-shccts. A
western congressman of some proni-
nencr. whose name, we believe, wocs
into the small capital or independent
collection Of names in the newspaper
reports of congressional votes, wrote
an article for his local paper in which
Il narrowing sentence was rounded off
with the words: "The dwarfcd and
haggard children of the poor" The
compositor put it into shape thus ::
"Thc dooryard and hog-fcd children
of the poor" A misplaced punctu,-
ton mark sometimes alters the sense
of printed sentence. A New Haven
paper recently found it necessary To
explain ut some length why comma
went astray. The sentence was PRINT
cd as follows: However much the
postmaster general may disappoint the
multitude of placc-scckcr, Sic will
command the approval of the general
public Of course the words "pllce-
seeker, She should have read ''placc-
seekers, he the mistake arising from
the transposition of the comma and
letter as, but the editor felt it incum-
bent upon him to explain, rs Il sharp
eyed reader had written to inquire ii
that paper considered Postmaster GEN
cral Villas an old woman.
In transmitting over the wires to q