Slipping up

[LoisWakeman]

I am just reading Lindsey Davis's Rebels and Traitors (http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/rebelsandtraitors.htm), in which the principal is a printer.

I was interested to come across a new (to me) type-related expression that we all use without thinking about its origins, viz: slipping up, which refers to lines of type going awry - in the composing stick I guess? Once they are squinched together in the forme, presumably they are less prone to slip up (or down!)

(I have read lots of Ms Davis's Roman detective stories, but her venture into the English Civil War is new to me, but am enjoying it so far. Lots of local colour bringng a rather dour period of our history to life.)

[donmcc]

Slipping up makes sense, because when you had type on a stick, the top of the column is down, and you add to the top. Tip the stick down, and all the type would slip up.

Another good one is "out of sorts" which is what would happen to a composer when he ran out of a certain character (a sort) before finishing the page. It meant that another page would have to be torn apart so that the type could be used over.

[Steve Rindsberg]

I just started one of her Marcus Didius Falco books. I'll have to keep an eye out for this series too.

[Hugh Wyn Griffith]

To say nothing of "Mind your p's and q's" which I refuse to believe, as some maintain, comes from pubs (not publishers) pints and quarts ....

[Steve Rindsberg]

To say nothing of "Mind your p's and q's" which I refuse to believe, as some maintain, comes from pubs (not publishers) pints and quarts ....
Alternate theories? Something more along the lines of "Mind your d's and b's"?

[Hugh Wyn Griffith]

Also a problem but I've forgotten where they are located in a type case although in Williamsburg I was intrigued to find I automatically found t h e ...

[LoisWakeman]

I've read lots of those too. I was introduced to her by a reading of the early Falco books on Radio 4 by Anton Lesser.

This one is good - an "epic novel" as it says in the blurb is rather too thick to read comfortably in bed (my favoured reading place), but a good plot and masses of local colour bringing history to life.

[LoisWakeman]

Thanks for that - another for my collection of interesting facts. Isn't English wonderful?

[Steve Rindsberg]

Ooo ... I wonder if the Radio 4 programs are available as books on tape (or CD). I work from home and mostly go out to places I can get to on the bicycle. My wife has to make fairly long drives a few times a week and relies on books on CD to make the time pass. She'd LOVE these. Thanks for mentioning them.

[Mike]

Would downloads (http://www.audible.co.uk/aduk/site/audibleSearch/searchResults.jsp?D=falco&Ntt=falco&Ntk=S_Keywords_Uk&Dx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&N=0&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes) suffice? Mind you, if they're available as downloads they're probably on CD somewhere.

[LoisWakeman]

Amazon UK thinks so: try searching for "bbc lindsey davis anton lesser" and see if you can find them over your side of the pond. They are very good, and Anton has the perfect voice - slightly sardonic.

There were 4 in total: The Silver Pigs, Poseidon's Gold, Shadows in Bronze and
The Iron Hand of Mars.

[Steve Rindsberg]

Would downloads (http://www.audible.co.uk/aduk/site/audibleSearch/searchResults.jsp?D=falco&Ntt=falco&Ntk=S_Keywords_Uk&Dx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&N=0&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes) suffice? Mind you, if they're available as downloads they're probably on CD somewhere.
Downloads would be fine. I have a CD burner and I'm not afraid to use it. In fact, I think the current car CD is MP3 capable, so I could probably put a whole book on one CD.

[Steve Rindsberg]

Amazon UK thinks so: try searching for "bbc lindsey davis anton lesser" and see if you can find them over your side of the pond. They are very good, and Anton has the perfect voice - slightly sardonic.

There were 4 in total: The Silver Pigs, Poseidon's Gold, Shadows in Bronze and
The Iron Hand of Mars.
I've read The Silver Pigs and would love to hear it again on audio-book.

I'm going to see if our library has the series. They've got a huge collection; we're very lucky that way.