On my CV I’ve got a sentence that goes something like this “I have a great eye for detail and a passion for clarity and accuracy”, or something along those lines. It’s a complete lie of course. If I want something to be anywhere near correct and accurate I have to check it around 300 times, and even then there’s no guarantee I won’t have put too many ‘o’s on tooo or whatever.

My point is, I understand how these sorts of errors can be made in publishing. At least on the internet if I gash something up I can go in at a later date and erase the embarrassment and pretend it never happened in the first place. But in the world of magazines and newspapers, once that product has left the printing press no amount of prayer or denial can remove your shame.

Here’s some top quality examples of media mess ups that quite possibly cost some people their jobs…

1) This first one’s kind of poignant in a way, but also a complete farce:

2) So close, but yet so far. The paper technology sector hasn’t quite made it to the right level for this to work yet:

3) You know what, you can keep your prize:

4) In German the word for diarrhea is “durchfall” which literally means “through fall”:

☛ Next: Maths Problems From North Korean School Books Are Hilarious