As a police reporter for a Florida newspaper, I was once betrayed by a copy editor who thought he was doing the right thing.  I wrote a story about Holly Hill, Florida, police arresting a man for impersonating a federal officer.  The suspect was stopped for speeding.  He handed the officer a business card that contained the letters F-I-B penciled in above his name.

This so-called federal agent said to the traffic cop, "It's okay.  I'm on the job-I'm FBI." The fact that the letters "FBI" were spelled out "FIB" had everyone at police headquarters rolling in laughter.  What a giant fib the bogus agent was attempting to pass on.

I handed in my story which contained the facts I've told you.  I was very careful not to make a typographical error.  The letters "F-I-B" were critical to the humor of the incident, so I used the typographer's code, "CQ," in the margin to indicate the letters "F-I-B" were correct as they were written.

When the paper came out the next morning, all reference to the man's bogus business card said "FBI." The letters "FIB" appeared nowhere in the story.  That done, the humor of the incident was forever lost.  There was nothing funny about a man claiming to be an FBI agent with a card stating he was an FBI agent.

When I got to work the next afternoon I challenged the copy editor.  "Don't get on my case," he says, "you made the typo-you wrote "FIB." You're the police reporter, you should know how to spell "FBI.""