[Ads-l] Dating "Grauniad" for the typo-prone "Guardian"

[Michael Quinion]

The earliest I've found for "Grauniad" in Private Eye is from 1968 (if 
Google Books is to be believed, but the volume returns 88 hits for "1968", 
so it seems reasonable.) 

I have clear memories of seeing a cutting from The Guardian in Private Eye 
in which The Guardian had misspelled itself as "Grauniad," giving rise to 
much hilarity and which was, I am fairly sure, the source of the nickname. 
My guess is that this was in the early 1960s.

The cause was The Guardian beginning printing in London and sending copy 
by primitive telecoms equipment from its then base in Manchester. A lot of 
transmission errors occurred, many of which got through to print.

The nickname long outlasted this period. It's stil in use, though I guess 
many users now are unaware of its origin.

--
Michael Quinion
michael.quinion at worldwidewords.org
http://www.worldwidewords.org

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