It’s rumoured that a Russian Czar found out about his wife’s affair and sentenced her lover to exile in Siberia – and certain death.
She found the ‘death warrant’; it read:
Pardon impossible to be sent to Siberia.
What could she do? It was in her husband’s handwriting with the official seal stamped on it.
They would recognise a change of handwriting, and obvious strikethrough…
She saved his life – with punctuation.
When it came to enforcing the order, this is what it read:
Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.
A dot with a tail - the humble comma.
She found the ‘death warrant’; it read:
Pardon impossible to be sent to Siberia.
What could she do? It was in her husband’s handwriting with the official seal stamped on it.
They would recognise a change of handwriting, and obvious strikethrough…
She saved his life – with punctuation.
When it came to enforcing the order, this is what it read:
Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.
A dot with a tail - the humble comma.
