Re: Bad words intentionally left in the text

[Gwen Barnes <gwen -dot- barnes -at- MUSTANG -dot- COM>]

->      Coleen MacKay wrote <<One of the typesetters had the habit of
->      inserting a very bad word into a document when he took a break,
->      could find his place when he returned.Yes, you guessed it, one d

->      Thompson's
->    Pen is a Sword
->
-> Unfortunately, there wasn't room above the story to run the headline,
-> was set in type, some of the extra space was removed from the second
-> you guessed it. Most of the "extra space" was taken from between the

Back in the 1970s, the "Albertan", the morning daily newspaper in
Calgary, Alberta, was the victim of an evening of domestic discord
between a Linotype operator and his wife, a proofreader. He was cussing
her out in type, she was pulling the offending slugs from the galley
and writing insults on the proofs. She finally had enough, and left in
a 12 point boldface slug that found its way to the top of the lead-in
story on page 1 ... which said (and I timidly expurgate)

                           F**K YOU CHARLIE

The entire first edition and about half of the second edition were
printed and on trucks bound for the outside world before one of the
pressmen noticed. He got to utter the magic phrase "STOP THE PRESS",
probably for the first and only time of his career. And the 100
year old presses stopped. It was at least a day before the machinists
got them running again, and in the meantime Albertan staff were chasing
delivery trucks all over town and picking up newspapers off doorsteps.
They were too late to stop several bundles that were shipped by air to
other newspapers across the country, though...

They told the public that the presses broke down (true enough, but they
didn't inflict the public with the *reason* for the breakdown).
Newspaper people across Canada know the real reason. Just about
everyone on shift except for the pressman who stopped the run got
fired. The few remaining copies of that day's edition are ... valuable.