Brigham Young’s Student Newspaper Recalled Because…

April 8, 2009 By Guest Contributor 11 Comments

This is amusing.

Brigham Young University’s student newspaper — The Daily Universe — had to recall all 18,500 copies of Monday’s paper on account of a slight typo.

A caption for a picture should have said the following:

“Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and other general authorities raise their hands in a sustaining vote…”

Instead, it read as follows:

“Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostates and other general authorities raise their hands in a sustaining vote…”

Nice. An innocent mistake by an editor under deadline pressure.

“Our copy editor in charge of the front page, who was under deadline pressure, was using spell check on her page and had misspelled the word apostle,” [editorial manager Rich] Evans said. “One of the first options that came up on InDesign’s spell check suggestions was the word apostate. Unfortunately that’s the one she clicked on. It still should have been caught by two more levels of review after that, but again with deadline looming, the worst possible thing happened.”

An innocent, hilarious mistake.

dailyuniversetwelveapostatesenhanced

Even more amazing is how big of an issue this has become. The Daily Universe has issued a full-length article explaining the mistake as well as a brief “we regret the error” paragraph. They’re still apologizing.

Meanwhile, I assume the staff of the paper still believes the whole Joseph Smith story… which makes me worry more about their credibility, not their typos.

Anyway, can anyone else suggest a funnier typo to be found in that newspaper?

Filed Under: General, Humor 11 Comments
  • David D.G.

    Anyway, can anyone else suggest a funnier typo to be found in that newspaper?

    I can think of two variations of the same one that would be funny to find, and not that implausible to have happen: Namely, either leaving the second “m” out of Mormon or leaving the “i” off the end of Angel Moroni. Depending on the surrounding context, it could range from hilarious to downright sidesplittingly hilarious.

    ~David D.G.

  • anthuswilliams

    Back when I was in high school, the paper was being officially handed out as a matter of course (in a public school, no less), I remember reading a statement in the leaders of one of their articles (albeit not on the front page like this case).

    To wit:

    When Brigham Young first led the Morons to the Salt Lake Valley, he never could have imagined the influence his church would one day come to hold.

    I felt like saying something profound about the level of truth that was inadvertently conveyed through that one little typo. But I couldn’t think of anything…

  • Ron in Houston

    Brigham Young on blacks:

    You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind

    Brigham Young on apostates:

    “I say, rather than that apostates should flourish here, I will unsheath [sic] my bowie knife, and conquer or die [Great commotion in the congregation, and a simultaneous burst of feeling, assenting to the declaration.]. Now, you nasty apostates, clear out, or judgment will be put to the line, and righteousness to the plummet [Voices, generally, ‘go it, go it.’]. If you say it is right, raise your hands [All hands up.]. Let us call upon the Lord to assist us in this, and every good work.”

    The question is why anyone would go to a university named after a hateful violent bigot.

  • David D.G.

    Brigham Young University’s student newspaper — The Daily Universe — had to recall all 18,500 editions of Monday’s paper…

    Speaking of typos, Hemant, I believe that the word you meant there was “copies,” not “editions.” An edition is essentially an entire day’s publishing output (or at the very least a print run with no changes introduced at any point), and I very much doubt they had 18,500 print runs.

    ~David D.G.

  • Eric Z

    Can anyone else suggest a funnier typo? Sure I can! How about, “The Bible and the Book of Mormon are both hysterical testaments of Jesus’ divinity,” as opposed to “…historical testaments.”

    Anyone else?

  • http://www.allbeliefs.com B

    That’s right, because people who are religious don’t have any credibility whatsoever.

    *Roll eyes*

    It’s funny, but no need to insult people.

  • http://religiouscomics.net Jeff

    How about

    “Members of the Quran of the Twelve Apostles and other general authorities raise their hands in a sustaining vote…”

    That might also slip past a spell-check at the 11th hour… but not as funny as Apostates…. since that is exactly what most “regular” Christians think Mormons are.

  • http://friendlyatheist.com Hemant Mehta

    Speaking of typos, Hemant, I believe that the word you meant there was “copies,” not “editions.”

    Fixed! Thanks, David :)

  • http://skepticsplay.blogspot.com/ miller

    Meanwhile, I assume the staff of the paper still believes the whole Joseph Smith story…

    You can’t discount the possibility that they’re part of the non-LDS minority, which makes up about… 1.5% of the student body. Oh, it’s smaller than I thought! Well, never mind then.

  • tamarind

    As a BYU alum, I can testify that ineptitude with regard to spelling and grammar is nothing new to The Daily Universe. It was just so painful to read, even discounting the dull, narrow-minded and submissive subject matter.

    But I’m glad to see that their carelessness with proofreading culminated in such an amusing mistake.

  • http://tangential-anger.blogspot.com/ Lauren Cocilova

    Not this newspaper, no, but I just can’t get over the Large Hardon Collider misprint… It makes me happy.