Column 8
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday April 5, 2008
From a year 5 kid on the train, reports Andrew Tiedt, of Sydney: "I can't wait to do chemistry. In chemistry, there are no wrong answers." "That's certainly not my recollection of chemistry," Andrew says, "but perhaps times have changed." If so, it could be an improvement. Column 8 well remembers almost killing itself by getting an answer wrong in chemistry, when a pile of powdered magnesium exploded in its face.
"What's all the fuss about apostrophes and commas?" asks a rhetorical Col Begg, of Orange (Column 8, Wednesday). Col writes that during his journalistic cadetship in the 1960s, he was often reminded of copy quoting "'The editor said the subeditor was an idiot', which, when corrected for publication by the subeditor read, 'The editor, said the subeditor, was an idiot."'Still on punctuation, it seems even the writers can't get it right, according to Katie McMurray, of Waverley. "I did publicity for the Sydney Writers' Festival from 1998 to 2006, and now do publicity for Brisbane Writers Festival. Note the different apostrophe action of each. You can only imagine the angst and debate among the literary event minders! For the record, Melbourne Writers Festival takes Brisbane's side, and Adelaide Writers' Week takes Sydney's.""In reply to Marilyn Jervis," (Column 8, Wednesday) "we eat 'bangers and mash' because of the song recorded by the unlikely combination of Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers," writes Sandy Parkinson, of Hilton, Western Australia, "where she's begging for macaroni and minestrone, while he's saying, 'Give us a bash of the bangers and mash me muvver used to make."' The lurid headlines (Column 8, since Thursday) are pouring in. "Surely," writes Malcolm Barnes, of Vancouver. "you must know of the story of the midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison. The headline the next day? 'Small medium at large'." Maggie Cooper goes one better: "I work for a newspaper in Lismore and recently attended a headline-writing workshop. I recalled the tale of the (apparently not so) famous London Times headline about the arrival of a seasick Gloria Swanson on a Monday morning at Southampton: 'Sick transit, Gloria, Monday'. Sadly not a single person attending the workshop, including the tutor, knew the Latin phrase that inspired this gem."There may be photos doing the rounds, proving that the ship went to the bottom, but what are we to make of this? "Next to my desk," writes John Newton, of Glebe, "I keep a handsome turned wooden canister with a tight-fitting lid and a glass bowl inside. It was my grandfather's tobacco jar. I keep salted liquorice drops in it. The other day, for the first time, I read the inscription on the wooden knob on top of the canister. There's an anchor, and around it in small letters 'Wood from HMAS Sydney'. Does anybody know where the wood came from and when?"
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
