Working for a newspaper is no easy job. The worst part about it: the time constraints. Writers, editors, and designers are always in a race with the clock to meet their deadlines so that each day’s newspaper can be sent to the printers in enough time for it to get spewed out, bundled, and sent out to newsstands. That forever small window of time to get everything just right means corners necessarily get cut, and “final looks” aren’t a guarantee. Of course, this results in errors. Usually, it’s an inconsequential typo. Other times, unfortunately, a newspaper may print a completely wrong bit of information and then it has to issue a retraction. But then, once in a while, to the delight of the giggling child in all of us, they’ll somehow print a dirty word in giant letters.
Someone got fired. pic.twitter.com/5qmu9u5Rxq
— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) December 12, 2017
A British writer named Alex Andreou spotted this Living section from an issue of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The big photo of a model in a bikini was supposed to accompany an article about swimsuit options. That piece was titled “Suit Yourself,” but, thanks to some graphic effects applied to the letters to make them look wavy like the surrounding water, the headline instead implores readers to, well, soil themselves.
Andreou did his civic duty and shared the image on Twitter, whose dirty-minded residents had no problem finding the humor in the misfortune of this poor newspaper (not to mention the section editor who probably lost their job, or at least received a severe reprimand).
https://twitter.com/ingvald29/status/940569519654932480
The purest of puerile genius. Love it!
— Loading terrain… (@DavidBoatswain) December 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/MagnumArtis/status/940576268596207617
https://twitter.com/Pamelajgoldberg/status/940489282820755456
It took me a while to see what was wrong 🙈
— CassandraB (@MsMoanAlot) December 12, 2017
go stand in the water and ….
— VanCity George (@VanCityGeorge) December 12, 2017
Hey what if they are all trapped at these papers being forced to spout rubbish and this is a cry for help?
— Dame poissonrouge (@LynPlace) December 12, 2017
When you see it you’ll suit bricks
— uberbikegeek🌻 ([email protected]) (@uberbikegeek) December 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/MagicAurax/status/940570187446784000
Well I've done my spit-take for today.
— A Kind and Holy El (@bastardbirbs) December 12, 2017
But hey, it’s not like the page designer didn’t put a lot of effort into making sure that the presentation looked good. They clearly did a lot of Photoshop work on the photo. Proof: Take a look at the model’s arm. Actual human arms don’t bend that way…nor are they that long.
https://twitter.com/manners_jesse/status/940594258855251975
https://twitter.com/tobylarone1/status/940611699530436609