Penguins a hundred years ago, and the niceties of captioning

Passed on by Victor Steinbok, a December 13th tweet from Alan Ferrier ‏@alanferrier:

Who would have believed that the perfect Wikipedia photo caption could have been improved upon?

The improvement is a subtle one, designed to clearly identify the two figures in the photo: the piper is the one on the right.

But the wonderful “plays the bagpipes for an indifferent penguin” remains untouched.

2 Responses to “Penguins a hundred years ago, and the niceties of captioning”

  1. arnold zwicky Says:

    On Facebook:

    Michael Palmer: Is “Piper” the man’s first name, or his occupation?
    David Preston: First name Gilbert, official piper of the expedition.

  2. [BLOG] Some Saturday links | A Bit More Detail Says:

    […] Zwicky reflects on the penguin-related caption of a photo on Wikipedia that has made the world […]

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