Saturday, June 6, 2015

Sticks and Stones. . .Words Can Hurt, Too.

You have heard that old saying that "Sticks and stones can brake my bones but words can never hurt me".  Well, that is not necessarily true, sometimes words can really hurt you.  I found an instance from back in September 21st 1987 about a misprint in the paper that almost cost a man his life.  Actually, it was a computer that put this man in jeopardy.  This guy was a Mafia loan collector and a New York paper's spelling checker didn't like the original which called him a "ruthless enforcer" and it changed it to "ruthless informer"!!

Of course the paper published a retraction and an apology, but I wonder if it was quick enough to save this "ruthless informer"??  Or maybe that paper just wanted to get rid of a really bad guy??  So, I wonder what other terrible things a computer error could cause?  I know I have made some bad errors that I didn't catch in time, but none that could be classified as deadly.  Have any of you?  Now, watch what the spelling checker does and have a great day, you hear.

12 comments:

  1. Same could go for you too Dizzy. When you said the guy almost cost him his wife, I was wonder'n how his relationship with the mafia could cost him his wife.

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    1. Thanks for catching that typo, I corrected it.

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  2. Some government agency killed me off a long time ago and other government agency fools just followed along. Thank goodness SSA bothered to check up on it. Then all I had to do is go in and prove I was still alive. About four months of red tape garbage was collected by the time it was over.

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    1. You have "too much fun" for a dead man, that is for sure.

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  3. In his world, that kind of mistake could get ya killed for sure!

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    1. Just goes to show you that sometimes, computers can be hazardous to your health. . . and news papers.

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  4. I remember a sign in an office once that said something like... Be careful what you post on the internet... it's out there forever. (something like that... but the point was once you hit the send button, whether it's correct or not... whether it's something you might regret later... it's too late.

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    1. That is so true. Life is like that, too. Everything you do will be part of your history, good, bad, or indifferent.

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  5. Forget all that stuff,,,, you have any pics of your swamp?

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    1. No, but one of these days when I get up the energy, I will get up off my rocker/recliner and walk way down there and take a picture. Right now the mosquitoes are just to thick and hungry.

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  6. It is the phones voice recognition software that gets me into trouble:)

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    1. Oh yes, it gives me problems, also. I keep asking to speak to a human that speaks American English without a terrible accent. Sometimes I go through multiple people on the phone but I usually get my way.

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