Check It Out

Carl, on a tear, goes against the grain

Last week, Carl in Cary, who is not allowed to play with scissors, wrote wondering why he can tear his N&O in a perfectly straight line vertically, but when he tears it horizontally it's all raggedy.

Carl's quandary evoked thoughts on the subject from other readers who apparently are accustomed to shredding their N&O.

"Regarding Carl's question on why he can tear the N&O lengthwise in a straight line, " writes Sandy in Cary, "two words: warp and weft. Seamstresses know this phenomenon well."

For those non-seamstresses among us, Kenneth Marks at Marks' Marks Book Repair Services in Apex provides a lay explanation: "Paper usually has grain, and when you tear along the grain, you usually get a fairly straight tear. However, when you tear across grain, you get a jagged tear.

"The newspaper is printed on grain long paper. When binding you must have grain long paper (that is, running up and down on the spine); otherwise, when you glue the text, it will cockle or wrinkle" --

Isn't that an Irish ditty? You know,

In Dublin's fair city,

where girls are so pretty ...

singing cockles and wrinkles, alive alive-O ...

-- "and create an uneven binding. Oblong shaped books require grain short to avoid the same problem."

Make that a somewhat lay explanation.

We also heard from another Carl on the topic, though his interest wasn't in shedding light on the problem. It was on protecting his franchise.

"I hope it can be made clear to assembled CIO eyes ... that The Other Carl ... is NOT the Simple Country Programmer. Real Carls don't live in Carye."

Hmm. First time we've heard someone claim trademark infringement on a first name.