The French Letter -- Dave's Linotype Website

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Subject: The French Letter

Author:
Dave Hughes

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Date Posted: 10:45:39 06/06/01 Wed
In reply to: Dave Hughes 's message, "AMUSING ANECDOTES" on 10:43:53 06/06/01 Wed

OK, Let me start the ball rolling with the funny stories. While I was working at the Yorkshire Evening Press in the mid to late 1970s we used to have groups of French exchange students taking a tour of the Composing Room to see how newspapers were produced. One of the supervisors used to stand them round a Linotype machine and ask their names. He would then quickly bash out a line for each one of them (usually in 18pt caps) to demonstrate the machine. He would then take a quick proof of it on the proofing press and present the print to each one of them as a memento of their visit. Invariably one of the brighter students (usually named Andre, or something similar) would notice that the accent had been missed on his/her name. The supervisor, who was quite elderly, subscribed to the old school of dealing with foreigners. He would talk very loudly and very slowly (in English, of course) to make himself understood. His explanation usually went as follows: "You are in England now, we do not have any French Letters over here."
NOTE: French Letter is an English colloquialism for condom.

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Subject	Author	Date
Hot Type!	Mike Byrne	21:06:07 08/08/01 Wed