# Washington is now what?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-is-now-what/279135>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 10, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-is-now-what/279135 "2004-12-10T15:32:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-is-now-what/279135/1 "2004-12-10T15:32:18Z")

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In this article:

[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041210.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041210.html)

The last sentence seems truncated, did one of the Gerbils have a heart attack, mid publish?

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**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-is-now-what/279135/2 "2004-12-10T18:34:13Z")

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> [@The Sonoran Lizard King](#):
>
> In this article:
> 
> [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041210.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041210.html)
> 
> The last sentence seems truncated, did one of the Gerbils have a heart attack, mid publish?

I think perhaps Little Ed was researching the dozen taverns of York and returned not quite able to live up to his usual editing standards. 😉

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**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-is-now-what/279135/3 "2004-12-10T18:51:21Z")

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What we got here … is a failure to code our HTML properly. The source code on that page shows the article should end:

> [@Cecil Adams](#):
>
> Washington is now … well, I admit it’s become every bit as grand as Philadelphia–and you see where that’s gotten us. Surely parties on both sides of the aisle will sympathize with the thought: Wouldn’t we be better off back in York?

There are some half-open \<th tags confusing your browser. And just about everybody else’s, I’d guess, since the text doesn’t display in IE.

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**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-is-now-what/279135/4 "2004-12-10T21:36:06Z")

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Ha. Thanks for solving the mystery.

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**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-is-now-what/279135/5 "2004-12-10T22:58:53Z")

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> [@SCSimmons](#):
>
> What we got here … is a failure to code our HTML properly. The source code on that page shows the article should end:
> 
> There are some half-open \<th tags confusing your browser. And just about everybody else’s, I’d guess, since the text doesn’t display in IE.

Aha! You’re right. To hazard a guess, I’d say someone meant to type in the &nbsp; character entity between the periods of the ellipsis, and somehow entered those half-finished \<th tags instead.

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**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-is-now-what/279135/6 "2004-12-12T20:29:30Z")

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Every bit as grand as Philadelphia?!

Pshaw!

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-is-now-what/279135/7 "2004-12-12T20:47:18Z")

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> [@The Sonoran Lizard King](#):
>
> Washington is now what?

Washington in now dead.

Glad to be of help!  
😃