In searching through old newspapers recently, I found articles with spelling and grammatical errors. The writers of that day surely cringed when the publications came back from the printer and saw the errors. But what was done was done. Printed. Delivered. Read. Errors and all. Unfortunately, these errors also became a permanent record, often microfilmed and stored in libraries or other places of record for centuries to come.
Our media friends in radio certainly made similar mistakes, but there was no permanent record that the average person could refer back to. In television, it was much the same, except for the few recordings that might have been saved to video tape. But newspaper folks had to learn to live with those errors — forever.
The digital age has changed this, to some degree. Mistakes in print are still mistakes in print, but the work of journalists online can now be changed, as if the errors never happened. That’s a good thing in some ways but a bad thing in others. All too often, in a reporter’s or editor’s mission to get a story out quickly, sloppy journalism happens. The online stories are edited, and the errors erased — but not before at least some readers noticed the blunders.
Of course, you don’t have to be a paid journalist to make a mistake in writing. Most everyone has sent a text with errors. Some have emailed messages that are regretted. And a few of us have even mailed Christmas cards to friends and family with boo-boos. (Sigh.)
Thoughts of these errors got me thinking about a product that was once commonly purchased but is less and less useful today — correction fluid. Most of us know it as the brand names Wite-Out or Liquid Paper. It was essential for those who used a typewriter and didn’t want to start over with a fresh piece of paper for every “g” that was supposed to be an “f.”
According to an article at atlantic.com, correction fluid dates back to the 1950s when Bette Nesmith Graham took on typing jobs to make money. She apparently wasn’t a very accurate typist and made many mistakes. Bette started experimenting with ways to cover up her errors, and, in 1958, she patented Liquid Paper. A few years later, in 1966, George Kloosterhouse and Edwin Johanknecht created Wite-Out, an improved formula of correction fluid that wouldn’t show up when a document was photocopied.
Many of you reading this may have a crusty bottle of one of these correction fluids tucked away in a desk somewhere, waiting for its day of need. Utilizing it could be a trick, though, as opening the bottle may take a herculean effort now — as could finding a typewriter to use it with.
Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com | 
