disagreed and were discharged," but he wrote indistinctly, and the compositor construed the writing into "the jury disappeared and were disgraced."
A petitioner appealed to a legislature as "individuals" as well as lawmakers. He wrote illegibly, and the clerk read "indian devils" instead of individuals, much to the indignation of the assembly.
Drew[1] attributes these blunders to bad writing:
The book Typographical Antiquities was cited as Typographical Ambiguities.
In testimony concerning a compound microscope the witness said that its efficiency would vary with the power of the " eye-piece " employed. Eye-piece was too carelessly written, and the compositor rendered it as lye-juice.
At a public dinner this toast was offered to the President, "May he live to a green old age." But it was printed, "May he live to a grim old age."
The last words of the poorly written sentence, "Alone and isolated, man would become impotent and perish," were not understood by the compositor, and they were printed as "impatient and peevish."
A bloody battle was so described in a newspaper:
It was fearful to see. The men fell in ranks and marched in pantaloons to their final account.
It is probable that the compositor did not know the word platoon, and thought it proper to make
- ↑ Pens and Types, pp. 16-24.
