Etaoin shrdlu

Uncommon card · No. 141504

Etaoin shrdlu (, ) is a nonsense phrase that sometimes appeared by accident in print in the days of hot type publishing. It resulted from the custom of Linotype machine operators intentionally typing the words by sliding a finger over columns of keys to quickly finish a line containing a mistake before retyping to correct the error. This method was faster than manually manipulating an incomplete line to remove the error. The phrase, which was also supposed to be a warning to proofreaders, was inadvertently published often enough to become part of newspaper lore – a documentary about the last issue of The New York Times composed using hot metal (July 2, 1978) was titled Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu. The phrase etaoin shrdlu is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary and in the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. The letters in the string are, approximately, the twelve most commonly used letters in the English language, ordered by their frequency. Differing sources give slightly different...

Read on Wikipedia · Image The New York Times, Public domain