Date: Thu, 9 Apr 92 4:30:5 EDT From: goldstein@arecibo.aero.org (SAMUEL GOLDSTEIN) Subject: Typographer's Twiddle OK, it all started when my semi-mythical and nonexistant friend Ikiru decided to teach karate on campus. He went through the whole process of getting room permits and all, and decided to put together a poster to advertise the class. So he read all those old Charles Atlas ads and those endless ju-jitsu and hopkido blurbs in the back of the comic books, and he came up with the following poster: /----------------------------------------------------------------\ | M A R T I A L A R T S | | | | - Learn Ancient Asian Techniques | | - Develop Impressive Skills | | - Learn the Art of Control | | - Build Self-Confidence | | - Protect Yourself | | - Train with exotic Impliments | | - Achieve your Maximum Potential | | | | New Class meets on Tuesday and Thursday, 7:00 PM | | | \----------------------------------------------------------------/ The poster was adorned with a large script Japanese character, which Ikiru admitted to me was the character for nori, the seaweed that one uses for wrapping sushi. But nevertheless, the poster was pretty impressive. So Ikiru sent the design to the printer, got two hundred copies, and put them up around campus. Tuesday night comes, and he arrives at the gym at a quarter of seven. To his amazement, there are already around two hundred students there! Now, based on his beautiful poster, he had expected a decent-sized group, but this was extraordinary! He glanced at his poster, and discovered why. The printer had evidently reversed two letters when typesetting the poster: the "T" and the "I" in the title had been transposed...