The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1954-04-02
Just Among Ourselves
P.ssins Comment Considered or Ineonsid.rst.

may,-and SHOULDN'T heavily into its popularity.
The copy is magnificent piece of book
binding, and indeed OF book-making in the material
meaning of the phrase. It is bound in fine leather,
and is printed on expensive India paper and sells
for no less than sixteen dollars. Yet this splendid
volume is, in its English parts, sprnkled all over
with absurd mistakes in sylsbication.
Manifestly the type was set by some European
who knows nothing OF the manner in which words
of language are divided Within the compass
of few pages you may find four or five divisions
of monosyllables into two parts II is distracting TO
say the least. to find the word come" printed with
GO" at the end of one line and me" at the begin
ming of the next; hyphen is used, of course. In
the same manner wife" is divided into wi" and
"fe"; love" is divided 10" and We; have
is presented as ''ha-' and We
What can the publishers have been thinking Of
to permit this intolersbe thing to happen? The
book is blisered throughout with the of diyid-
ing syllsbles and making two syllables out Of
syllabled words. The typesetter was at fault, the
proOl-reader at tault, and the publisher al
fault, in allowing such amazing mistakes TO occur.
And certainly the publisher is still more deeply at
fault in giving these mistakes the permanence and
fnality of appearing in q finished volume, done up
handsomely and offered at fancy prices
We might expect to find such "howlers" as these
in the compositions of Schooboys who are just
learning TO spell and TO put words together in sent
ences. We certainly do not expect to fino and we
have every right to be indignant at finding
them, in liturgical book that should present its
contents with dignity and correctness to every
reader. The mistakes are unintelgent, unworthy,
and offensive Further they indicate on the part
Of the publisher, brazen indifference TO the min
Imal demands of his craft as we'll as to the feel
ings of the people who are asked 10 buy the book.
Syllabication and TO observe them; otherwise. he
would quickly find himself out of employment. IT,
as might happen on the rarest occasion,--he were
IN doubt, he would look UP the matter IN dction-
airy and make sure of his divisions before setting
them in type Proofreader and editor too were
on the alert for sbadly divided word is even more
offensive than misspeed word.
And the old-timer had much more demanding
Job than his modern counterpart. He had to Jus
tify" each line by hand that is, insert or ex-
tract spscings here and there throughout the line
10 make il come out exactly even at the right hand
margin. Today, typesetting typecasting machines
Justify" line AT the touch of key lever.
Perhaps the advance of mechanical invention
has worked to bad effect in making the typesetter
careless about the fine points Of knowledge he
should possess; it may be that his machine is so
highly perfected that he lets it carry full or nearly
modern office man. even if he be C.P.A., need no
longer be swift and accurate manipulation of fig
ures; he lets the computing machine do his work
But no machine has been invented thus far which
will guarantee TO the operator the division Of word
into its correct syllables If the operator doesn't
know how to divide word the machine cannot
help him.
Our American printers in the main, are still
reliable workmen; they know their Job and even
the latest gadgetry cannot take all that Is personal
and human out of their task Now and again and
notably in ephemeral college publications. there
Grass blunders in the division of syables; come
upon such unconsConable atrocities 'learn-" and
ED" for the past enSe of the verb ito learn" OF
cal" and lied" for the monosyllable called" One
triumphant scholastic achievement is "thr" and
"ough' for through
But such bunders are very far from common
Our magazines and our daily papers are usually
metculously exact in observing the rules of syllab
cation. They even avoid the correct but unsightly
division which would let single vowel with ap-
pended hyphen stand al the end of line. And book
publishers are customary more careful in this
matter than the printers of less enduring works
The internal evidence in the case assures us
that the Daily MiSsa of which we speak here was
set up by European, To him vowel means a
syllable He would pronounce come" in two syll-
aDleA As kunl-fneh ana nence mas no hesltance IN
dividing the printed word accordingly. But why,
in the name of sanity. would publisher who hopes
to sell the books TO English speaking people allow
Europeans unfamiliar with our language do all the
work-setting type. editing proofing? The thing is
inconcevablel And vet il is dismaying fact
We may find slight amusement in hearing that
newly arrived European calls iee-cream "eesa-kree
ahm,a and enger-ae Ching CHER alley" But as
sumo the Victorian attitude when such abSurdifies
crop up in printed book at sixteen dollars; we
not amused
Well the thing is done The book has been
printed II is the market. Beyond question, thou
sands of copies are, at this minute displayed for
sale throughout America. If every purchaser would
take the trouble to send to the publisher sterr
demand to know what he means BY 1t, he would no
bring out such book again Or, If he did, he voulc
be stuck with 1t.