Misunderstood
StoryIllustrationAbigail Van Buren, of Dear Abby fame, tells about a typographical error in the classified section of a small town newspaper, and the subsequent disastrous attempts to correct it: Monday—FOR SALE—R. D. Jones has one sewing machine for sale. Phone 948-0707 after 7 PM and ask for Mrs.
Kelly who lives with him cheap. Tuesday—NOTICE—We regret having erred in the R. D. Jones ad yesterday.
It should have read: One sewing machine for sale. Cheap. Phone 948-0707 and ask for Mrs. Kelly who lives with Mr.
Jones after 7 PM. Wednesday—NOTICE—R. D. Jones has informed us hat he has received several annoying phone calls because of the error we made in his classified ad yesterday.
His ad stands corrected as follows: FOR SALE—R. D. Jones has one sewing machine for sale. Cheap.
Phone 948-7070 and ask for Mrs. Kelly who loves with him. Thursday—NOTICE—I, R. D.
Jones, have NO sewing machine for sale. I SMASHED IT! Don’t call 948-0707, as the phone has been disconnected. I have not been carrying-on with Mrs.
Kelly. Until yesterday she was my housekeeper, but her husband blackened my eye and she quit!
According to Mrs. Van Buren the moral of the story is, “Sometimes it is best to leave bad enough alone!”
The point
A newspaper's classified-ad typo about a sewing machine spirals into a chain of increasingly embarrassing 'corrections,' proving Dear Abby's moral that sometimes it's best to leave a small mistake alone.