(no subject)

[ceebeegee]

Yesterday I passed a guy hawking the New York Post, with the wrong headline of "Kerry...Picks Gephardt for VP." I heard a woman say to the seller "You know that's wrong, don't you?" I said to her "I suggest you buy it--it's like 'Dewey Defeats Truman'." As I walked away, an older gentleman asked me what we were talking about. I repeated the conversation to him, and he said "It's actually Edwards." I said "Oh, I know--I was suggesting she buy it as a collector's item." As I walked away for good, I realized how I tend to speak in shorthand a lot of the time--what I might've said was "I suggest you buy it [for a collector's item]--it's like [the similarly incorrect 1948 headline of] 'Dewey Defeats Truman'."

Comments

[tenner.livejournal.com]

As I walked away for good, I realized how I tend to speak in shorthand a lot of the time--what I might've said was "I suggest you buy it [for a collector's item]--it's like [the similarly incorrect 1948 headline of] 'Dewey Defeats Truman'."

I think what's the most impressive is that the vast majority of the time, our brains actually can translate from shorthand back to longhand with little loss of information.

The brain is cool.

[minstrel70.livejournal.com]

And it's perfectly acceptable to assume that a thinking human being with a functional brain would be able to understand the Truman reference, as well as the potential value of the aforementioned newspaper, absent additional verbiage.

That a majority of New Yorkers probably can't is not a reason to stoop to their level, but rather a reason to mourn.

[ceebeegee.livejournal.com]

would be able to understand the Truman reference

You'd think--that's a famous newspaper gaffe (although not nearly as memorable as Woodrow Wilson misprint ("The President was observed entering Mrs. Galt, who appeared to enjoy his sally"). But maybe it's not so well-known as I assumed.

[foulpost.livejournal.com]

I thk we all do the sme thng, whle I tnd to spk in shrthnd its usly becse I'm prsd for tme.