long-s confusion

[Victor Steinbok]

Found another interesting case of a misinterpretation of long-s in
pre-1800 texts. Guess how Google interprets the phase "sucking infants"
in Bailey's Etymological Dictionary. Actually, a GB search finds 106
separate instances, from 1645 to 1886. The dead giveaway is "the green
ftool" of these infants. ;-)

Also, some old editions of Encyclopaedia Brittanica appear on line with
the entire collection of long-s's replaced by f's. It is quite a
sight--not to mention, a pain to read. At least, the GB scans are readable.

Here's a passage that combines the two--try to read the whole sentence
without laughing. Then read the entire paragraph to give it proper
context. ;-) [I know--it's very adolescent humor...]
http://bit.ly/d2joLI

     VS-)

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