Of text-dating and text-mating

I received another e-mail that has gotten me scratching my head again: "Mr. Jabat, what do you think of these talks that Jose Rizal was the father of Adolf Hitler?"

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Oh, well, I think these talks are as funny as some other talks that Santa Claus is gay. Hehe.

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A Manila columnist says his most dreaded fear as he wakes up in the morning is to see his wife gone. That used to be my fear -- or one of my fears -- too.

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The fear that lingers in me is when I wake up to see typographical errors in my column. This ruins my day. (Haven't I told you this before?) Typos like this for instance: Pubic when it should have been public. Or rectal when it should have been recital. And fingering when the correct word should have been fingerling.

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In my 40 years or so as a TF columnist I have learned that a single missing letter or the intrusion of an unwanted letter can cause you trouble. Or even land you in court. That's why I've always warned, correction: appealed, to our proofreader… Sagdi lang masayup ang ngan ko, ayaw lang ang ngan sa uban.

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As one politician once said to me: "You can call me whatever nasty name you want, but never misspell my name." His name is (first name withheld) Udtog. There's one letter here that should not be dropped.

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E-mail from a reader (woman) who wants her name deleted: "Text-dating on radio sometimes end up in text-mating. This type of dating flourishes on the air because, you know, suckers are born everyday."

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I read in the papers that some politicians want Finance Secretary Margarito Teves to be sacked. For what "real reason" I do not know. But I do know that Secretary Teves has been praised by The Banker, the most prestigious global finance magazine based in London and has given him the "Best Finance Minister in Asia for 2008 Award."

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In calling Secretary Teves the best finance minister in all of Asia, The Banker said: "Teves rose to the challenge of handling the impact of the global economic turmoil on the country (Philippines)."

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The Banker editor Philip Alexander said, "Teves is responsible for the progressive improvements in revenue collection, lower public debt levels and more stable finances at the state-owned enterprises."

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