Write Here, Right Now

By Don Shearon Editor's Note: This story was clearly written in the days before video recorders, let alone the internet, which has allowed every televised “oopsie” to live forever. First Published August 11, 1972One of the occupational hazards of newspapering is the constant battle, often a losing one, against slips that pass in the type.Those engaged in electronic journalism, either radio or the boob tube, have their troubles, too, particularly with name pronunciations or spoonerisms. But once the echo dies away, their goofs are erased tor all times.Not so with newspapering. Once errors appear in print, they are on the record for all to see and preserve forevermore.“Spoonerism” is defined by Webster as the unintentional transposition of sounds or parts of worth. The term is named for an Englishman much renowned for such slips of the tongue. One of the more famed spoonerisms is credited to a popular radio announcer of the day who presented to his audience, “The President of the United States, Hoobert Heever!”This subject of typographical errors and related occupational pitfalls was brought to mind the other day when I tried to read a story in one of the Lincoln newspapers supposedly measuring public reactions to the disclosure of Senator Thomas Eagleton's medical problems.The edition of the Lincoln newspaper I received is an early afternoon one, apparently thrown together before anyone had an opportunity to read proof and make any corrections.Here is a faithful translation of one portion of the Eagleton story:“Aides also said telegrams were running 2 to 1 against Eagleton qquicituttlignqgq.qq”Then the very next sentenced read this way:“McGovern trying to grab a few days' rest in the midst qqq qof aq qcrquciaqiq point in for the presidency, seemed slightly annoyed at the public ruckus, but was charac-” and at this point a new paragraph made an appearance.Such stuff keeps newspapers reading from becoming dull, but contributes little to a clear understanding of current events.Not all typographical are so readily spotted as the examples given this far. Consider the one that sneaked into a classified advertisement in another Nebraska newspaper some years ago: “For sale, young hens, cleaned and ready for the rooster.”Some newspapers have a policy of announcing births by saying a “boy” or “girl” was produced by the proud parents, rather than writing it “son or “daughter.”There is a very practical reason for the policy; it is all too easy to find it showing up in print that a “sin,” rather than a “son,” was born to someone.Not all errors result from incorrect spellings, however.Upon occasion, one will see a story that doesn't read quite properly because a wrong line was pulled in making typographical corrections.One of my most embarrassing moments occurred quite a few years ago while I was writing for the now defunct Fairbury News. This happened while the newspaper still was located on E Street, below Fourth, where the Fairbury Feed and Seed Store is situated today.There was a break-in in one of the smaller towns in the county. The village night watchman had spotted the intruders and gave chase, but they escaped. My story read acceptably, from a grammatical standpoint, but there was one small problem. It had the deputy sheriff escaping from the night watchman!I walked down alleys for a couple of weeks, and even today the fellow who then was deputy sheriff won't let me forget this goof. I never did learn who in the back shop pulled the wrong line and put me on the deputy sheriff's hate list.Who was that, deputy? None other than Frank Knocke*, who became one of the best law enforcement officers ever to serve the people of Jefferson County. *Frank Knocke was Sheriff of Jefferson County.

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