ETAOIN SHRDLU!
STOP the presses: Richard Woods writes in to correct Paul Allenâs claim that typesetters used âmuttâ and ânutâ as seemingly useless guard words when discussing âemâ or âenâ sized lengths (15 July). âThe need to standardise typefaces and sizes in hot metal printing led to a union between the American and British points systems. Thus a Pica Em (mutton, not mutt) was 12 points (one-sixth of an inch) and an en (nut) six points.â
He says that while a shout of âyou need a couple of nuts in there, Johnâ might seem funny, getting it wrong meant that when the frame was tightened, the type would burst out into a horrendous alphabet soup, otherwise known as printersâ pie.
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Richard recounts a day in 1972 when the White Paper on the UKâs European Economic Community membership was published and Londonâs Evening Standard rushed it into print. The last of 21 pages was done at haste, tightened and âburst up and out and downâ.
He says âI spent the next 40 minutes with a compositor, a galley proof and more patience than you can imagine, reassembling the lines in correct order, under the evil eye of an impatient editor.â
âPossibly on a one-way road, Howard Bobry reports a road sign in Nehalem, Oregon, âdirecting drivers to the ârecycle centre and cemeteryâ.â
Turn left at the Soylent Green factory?â
Off the rails
âNO, NO, no!â writes Glyn Hughes, âthe J. P. Joule pub in Manchester isnât named after James Prescott Joule the physicist, it is named after James Prescott Joule the brewer, who happened to do a bit of physics in his spare time to reduce heating costs in the beer-making processâ (15 July).
Long may we toast these scientists who work for beer money, though â where would we be without the Studentâs t-test, developed by statistician William Sealy Gosset to monitor the quality of Guinness?
âPrestwich has the delightfully named âRailway and Naturalistâ,â adds Glyn, ânamed after the pioneer of natural selection and sometime railway surveyor, Alfred Russel Wallace.â
High proof
JOINING us at the table, Martin Chandler reports the existence of âThe John Wallisâ in Ashford, UK, named after the mathematician and sometime resident.
The inventor of the infinity symbol would no doubt appreciate the timeless pursuit of drinking in pubs. Meanwhile the ghost of Sir Isaac Newton still lingers in the Cambridge pub that bears his name (suggested by Alec Cawley), which undoubtedly stills plays host to regular lofty conjectures.
Bar magnet
ALSO chipping in to this round is Klaus Ă. Mogensen, who notes the existence of the Ărsted Ălbar (Ărsted Beer Bar) in Copenhagen.
âIt is named for Hans Christian Ărsted, the Danish physicist who discovered electromagnetism.â Or perhaps it comes from the park across the road, says Klaus, which is likewise named after Ărsted.
Westcountry wonders
AND Keith Waldon tells us of the font of ingenuity around his home in Gloucestershire. There is the Whittle Inn, ânamed after Frank Whittle, the inventor of the jet engine,â while nearby is the Wheatstone Inn, named after inventor Charles Wheatstone, who developed âthe Wheatstone Bridge, the electric telegraph and the English concertinaâ. Perhaps thereâs something in the water?
Always room for one more
PREVIOUSLY, Steve Ingamells suggested that âInfinite Buildings Solutions Ltdâ might be a suitable client to construct the Hilbert Hotel (15 July).
âThis makes me wonder if this was the company responsible for a new housing development near Royston a few years ago, that was marketed as âInfinityâ, part of the trend for fancy non-descriptive names given to new housing developments,â says Rupert Featherstone. âThis had the pleasing side effect of road signs in the local area directing you to Infinity, which you could in fact reach.â
A few years later, work started on another development next to Infinity, âwhich I really hoped would be marketed as âAnd beyondâ, but sadly they settled for âAffinityâ insteadâ.
Worse than a lemon
ANOTHER entry into accidental foreign language retronyms: John Farnhill reports that Toyota may struggle to sell its MR2 model in France. Spoken aloud, âit sounds like merdeux,â thatâs French for, uh, ânot very goodâ.
Feedback is reminded of the 1962 Chevy Novaâs supposed poor performance in Mexico, based on the idea that no va translates in Spanish as âwonât goâ. Despite being wholly apocryphal, this cautionary tale still runs regularly in columns and on websites, proving that fanciful stories can get better mileage than a mid-sized family saloon.
Copping an eyeful
THE that doctors at Solihull Hospital, UK, discovered no fewer than 27 contact lenses in the eye of a 67-year-old woman undergoing routine cataract surgery. Surprisingly, the patient had not reported any discomfort.
The medics note the woman had âdeep set eyes, which might have contributed to the unusually large number of retained foreign bodies.â
Eau no
âSURELY the scentless perfume from Josie Maran (3 June) is the perfect gift for a female homeopath,â writes Dave Hulme. Weâre sure there are versions pour femme and pour homme, Dave. But how to tell which is which?
