Hopefully Mr. Neill quickly moved on from this minor inconvenience! I do love your reminder here, though, that all roles in an organization are important, and often it's folks in the most seemingly unassuming ones that can have a much bigger impact than they realize.
Also, thanks for teaching me a new colloquialism - I had never heard the term "lurgy" before. I will now be using it exclusively to describe any bad, sick, or uncomfortable feeling I have moving forward.
It's funny, like the classic waiting half an hour for a bus and then suddenly 3 turn up - I've seen 3 instances of lurgy in the past couple of days! Great, underused word, I'd start using it, if anything to baffle your friends and colleagues.
I freelanced at Teletext for a while - mostly the Entertainment desk. A fun game was to open the dictionary at random, pick a word and race a colleague to get it into that day’s copy. Which is why one film review described Mel Gibson as “badger-bearded”.
You could always mess up so many things in newspapers and not hear a peep about it, but getting something like the listings wrong was a nightmare. Running the sports desk one night, I forgot to put the daily ‘Brain Teaser’ crossword on the inside back page … 😬
How funny! Was there just a big gap? Sometimes you’d spot papers who’d accidentally left the ‘lorum ipsum’ in which used to make me feel better. But you’re so right, getting listings wrong is worse than a typo in terms of the impact at the other end. Thanks for reading Andrew 😊
No, there wasn’t a big gap thankfully. I’d just filled the full spread with a preview of the British Lions rugby tour. The editor thought we resented giving up space to the crossword and that I’d left it out deliberately 😆
Hahaha made me laugh Faith and made me think if I’d taken my kids when little to the cinema and psyched them up for a movie that turned out not to be showing , I probably would have had to deal with a couple of melt downs 😂😂 and I’d be cursing that paper 😂😂
Thank you for this very informative piece! I had no idea of all the intricate logistics behind these listings in printed media (in 1998 at least, I'm assuming it's different now?!)... I feel like I can show off with this knowledge at my next gathering - probably Christmas 😅
Thanks for reading Stephanie! I don't actually know how it's done now but, probably with coding and the odd click of a button by one human at the most rather than a floor full of them. Different times!
I was just thinking about editorial errors yesterday (can't think why!) and reading this made me laugh, Faith. The responsibility of being a listings writer cannot be underestimated!
Hope you feel better soon. Thanks for sharing this excellent piece.
This cracked me up, Faith 😂 You really fucked someone’s weekend. You were more powerful than you thought! I completed a semester of a journalism degree then switched to marketing 🤯 I still hoped to work in publishing and also had big dreams of interviewing Kate Moss for Vogue. I moved from Australia to London in 2004 and had a severe reality check when my first job in publishing was selling recruitment ads in the New Scientist 🤓 I only narrowly dodged selling personals in Farmer’s Weekly 😂 I guess we all have to start somewhere
Thank you Sara - I'm glad it wasn't just me! Why did we buy into these dreams?! I now work in marketing too but at least I get to pretend I could still be a journalist here 🤣.
I'm shocked you slagged off Wind Tunnel International! That's a quality rag, I used to subscribe.
Andrew Neil is quite the jerk, so I say well done for screwing up his weekend - you ought to be proud of yourself!
Two points to clarify - were the pigeons also crying with you in the park?
And with Trivial Pursuit, this is a source of contention in some circles - cheese, you say? Hmmm...I'd go with pie pieces. I thought this was a UK v US thing for a while, but I've found in my 'research' that there's no rhyme or reason. But as the arbiter on these matters, it's most definitely a pie piece.
The reason I always thought only Americans said pie was because of the classic Chicago deep dish pizza, which they call a pie. But I've met far more Brits who call it pie. I'm confused now! 😖
Faith, if you've suffered the odd stabbing pain in the body over the years, be warned - someone who fell victim to your listings faux-pas could be in possession of a doll bearing a striking resemblance...Just sayin' 🤔
Hopefully Mr. Neill quickly moved on from this minor inconvenience! I do love your reminder here, though, that all roles in an organization are important, and often it's folks in the most seemingly unassuming ones that can have a much bigger impact than they realize.
Also, thanks for teaching me a new colloquialism - I had never heard the term "lurgy" before. I will now be using it exclusively to describe any bad, sick, or uncomfortable feeling I have moving forward.
Thanks so much Tim! It's so true isn't it, and a reassuring wake up call for those who think they don't matter perhaps.
Ha ha I do love that word - it feels quite 80s to me - so glad to have introduced you to it!
It's funny, like the classic waiting half an hour for a bus and then suddenly 3 turn up - I've seen 3 instances of lurgy in the past couple of days! Great, underused word, I'd start using it, if anything to baffle your friends and colleagues.
Really?! That’s so funny. There are loads of words like this that are worthy of the limelight I’m sure 🤔
I freelanced at Teletext for a while - mostly the Entertainment desk. A fun game was to open the dictionary at random, pick a word and race a colleague to get it into that day’s copy. Which is why one film review described Mel Gibson as “badger-bearded”.
This is hilarious. Love it! What year were you there?!
God, not even sure now. Somewhere between 2001 and 2003?
Couldn’t have happened to nicer chap
🤣🤣 Well summed up Anders!
Great stuff! At least yours was only for a film, I once wrote “place the diaphragm in your uterus”. If the doctor hadn’t spotted it the mind boggles!
Thanks Dean! The more I think about it, the more I think what a huge job this is!!
That's a great story, Faith! Also your job sounds very glamorous to me!
Thank you Georgina! Ha ha this one really wasn't 🤣
You could always mess up so many things in newspapers and not hear a peep about it, but getting something like the listings wrong was a nightmare. Running the sports desk one night, I forgot to put the daily ‘Brain Teaser’ crossword on the inside back page … 😬
How funny! Was there just a big gap? Sometimes you’d spot papers who’d accidentally left the ‘lorum ipsum’ in which used to make me feel better. But you’re so right, getting listings wrong is worse than a typo in terms of the impact at the other end. Thanks for reading Andrew 😊
No, there wasn’t a big gap thankfully. I’d just filled the full spread with a preview of the British Lions rugby tour. The editor thought we resented giving up space to the crossword and that I’d left it out deliberately 😆
Such power! I bet there were angry letters
Oh yes!
Hahaha made me laugh Faith and made me think if I’d taken my kids when little to the cinema and psyched them up for a movie that turned out not to be showing , I probably would have had to deal with a couple of melt downs 😂😂 and I’d be cursing that paper 😂😂
Ha ha thank you Francis! I had absolutely no inkling of this at the time but it makes sense now!!
Thank you for this very informative piece! I had no idea of all the intricate logistics behind these listings in printed media (in 1998 at least, I'm assuming it's different now?!)... I feel like I can show off with this knowledge at my next gathering - probably Christmas 😅
Thanks for reading Stephanie! I don't actually know how it's done now but, probably with coding and the odd click of a button by one human at the most rather than a floor full of them. Different times!
I was just thinking about editorial errors yesterday (can't think why!) and reading this made me laugh, Faith. The responsibility of being a listings writer cannot be underestimated!
Hope you feel better soon. Thanks for sharing this excellent piece.
Thank you so much Wendy and for bigging up the listing folk!! Very kind words 🤗
Excellent stuff Faith. I wish I'd ruined one of Andrew Neil's weekends.
Ha ha, well yes, there is that 🤣. Thanks Lewis!
This cracked me up, Faith 😂 You really fucked someone’s weekend. You were more powerful than you thought! I completed a semester of a journalism degree then switched to marketing 🤯 I still hoped to work in publishing and also had big dreams of interviewing Kate Moss for Vogue. I moved from Australia to London in 2004 and had a severe reality check when my first job in publishing was selling recruitment ads in the New Scientist 🤓 I only narrowly dodged selling personals in Farmer’s Weekly 😂 I guess we all have to start somewhere
Thank you Sara - I'm glad it wasn't just me! Why did we buy into these dreams?! I now work in marketing too but at least I get to pretend I could still be a journalist here 🤣.
Must have been mortifying at the time Faith, but if you're going to mess up, it's good to mess up big and get a story out of it.
Hope you feel better soon.
Thank you Gillian and thank you for reading. That's true actually, all or nothing!
I'm shocked you slagged off Wind Tunnel International! That's a quality rag, I used to subscribe.
Andrew Neil is quite the jerk, so I say well done for screwing up his weekend - you ought to be proud of yourself!
Two points to clarify - were the pigeons also crying with you in the park?
And with Trivial Pursuit, this is a source of contention in some circles - cheese, you say? Hmmm...I'd go with pie pieces. I thought this was a UK v US thing for a while, but I've found in my 'research' that there's no rhyme or reason. But as the arbiter on these matters, it's most definitely a pie piece.
Get well soon! 🤗
Thanks Daniel! Yes I thought this might actually go in my favour - he's not the most liked person.
The pigeons were definitely crying, but this was in 1998, so things may have improved for them now.
Pie??? Far too deep for a pie, which is why it's cheese 🤣
The reason I always thought only Americans said pie was because of the classic Chicago deep dish pizza, which they call a pie. But I've met far more Brits who call it pie. I'm confused now! 😖
I won't rest until we resolve this
I'll create a poll and we will.
🤣🤣
Faith, if you've suffered the odd stabbing pain in the body over the years, be warned - someone who fell victim to your listings faux-pas could be in possession of a doll bearing a striking resemblance...Just sayin' 🤔