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"Some f***er"

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by DisembodiedOwlHead, May 20, 2008.

  1. DisembodiedOwlHead

    DisembodiedOwlHead Active Member

    Anybody have a link or can post a jpeg or pdf of this infamous cutline mistake? I'm trying to use it to make a point, not embarrass whoever produced it.

    You know the listing of some team photo, left to right, "John Smith, Abe Lincoln, Some Fucker, Chris Johnson...."

    It's the classic example of why never to leave a place-holder.
     
  2. Pete Incaviglia

    Pete Incaviglia Active Member

    If I still had mine from a monthly mag I worked at I'd give it to you, no prob.

    We ran a cutline "Mary Smith kills the ball past some chick with red hair during the district volleyball championship."

    It was a big feature on this dominant girls volleyball team. It was also at my first paid gig — and I was still in college.

    We pulled an all-nighter trying to get the mag together for print and were going to double check the name in the later morning, but forgot.
     
  3. BertoltBrecht

    BertoltBrecht Member

    In college, I changed our library cutline from "Joe Smith overcame illness..." to "Joe Smith overcame syphillis..."

    No regrets. Also no mistakes.

    And to add to the thread, I've seen that error on the managing editor's window at the Red & Black, University of Georgia's paper. Maybe you could get someone to send it.
     
  4. The best one, of course, was from some small paper in TN or TX (Galatin?), where a prep soccer gamer included something along the line of ``Timmy Smith sucks donkey cock'' and then some other primo zingers.

    The tale I heard was that multiple people were fired, but you know how such a legend grows from ear to ear.

    On a personal level, the copy desk at my former employer once put in dummy type it intended to cut and replace with my hockey gamer. But it never happened for some reason.

    Readers woke up to a normal headline and photo caption but with ``text'' that included trippy stuff like ``happiness is a warm gun'' and ``captain, my captain, your ship of fools sails on a sea of plenty'' and that sort of stuff.

    We ran the story correctly the next day but inside the section. Whereas the goof version was on the cover.
     
  5. [​IMG]

    I've seen more than a few of these in my day. Still trying to track down some better ones.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  6. DisembodiedOwlHead

    DisembodiedOwlHead Active Member

    Nice work. I have been searching and haven't found the grail, either.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  7. BertoltBrecht

    BertoltBrecht Member

    Call the Red & Black, say, "I'm DisembodiedOwlHead, can you please scan and email me the 'Some fucker' picture?"

    It's awkward, but there's your Grail.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  8. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    At our college paper, we once referred to one of the vice presidents of the university as "Director of Butt Licking" in a pull quote.

    No, that did not end well.
     
  9. Wow. That is amazing!
     
  10. beanpole

    beanpole Member

    I remember seeing the 'some f***er' cutline. I think it was the paper in Ironton, Ohio.
     
  11. beanpole

    beanpole Member

    this is the only reference I can find of it:

    -- Denny Wilkins, professing journalism at St. Bonaventure
    University, <lost_-@hotmail.com> confesses, "As Friday night desk
    guy at The Recorder (in my hometown of Greenfield, Mass.), I ran a 6-
    48 atop the jump page: "State pubic utilities board to meet".
    "Fortunately, I teach now, and my students make the mistakes. One,
    out in the faux world of internships, sent me an Ironton, Ohio,
    Tribune cutline of a line-up photo of a basketball team: 'Team
    members are: From left, Tommy Hill, Donald Duncan, and Justin
    Hamlin; second row from left, some fucker, Luke Beach ...'
    It's true. Many Ohio sports departments cheered the new, faster
    cutline writing style.

    http://lists.topica.com/lists/bong-l/read/message.html?sort=d&mid=2000606512
     
  12. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    In my experience, most university VPs are eminently qualified to direct the department of butt-licking. ;) ;)
     
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