Toe be or not toe be, that’s the question

11:46am Friday 30th May 2008

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I WELL and truly put my foot in it by misspelling a popular phrase in last week's column.

Two eagle-eyed readers had a good laugh at my expense by pointing out that I'd written I towed the line' instead of I toed the line'.

A contributor called Pierre posted the following comment at the end of the online version of this column: "It is interesting to see that the editor towed' the line. I wonder where he towed' it to?"

Ouch, that hurt.

Another reader, A Fletcher, took the trouble to send me a fax pointing out my schoolboy blunder.

Naturally, I was very embarrassed because editors should not make such basic mistakes and I constantly rebuke staff for misusing words such as kerb (curb) or peddle (pedal).

But my mitigation is I honestly thought the tow' was correct in this context.

As I've never toed the line in my life, it's possibly not surprising I didn't know how to spell the phrase.

But I shall stand in the Star newsroom with a dunce's cap on for the next week just to show my reporters I'm serious about raising the standards of literacy.

One of my pet crusades at the moment is the use of its and it's.

It's astonishing how many people get this wrong in letters and signage. I became so enraged that I set up an "Its Box" in the newsroom.

It works on the same principle as a swear-box. Any journalist, including me, who confuses its with it's has to place 10p in a paper cup.

I'm sure it's against human rights to enforce such a rule in a 21st century office, so I declared it was voluntary.

However, everyone seemed to be happy with the idea and the Its Box was launched two weeks ago with the grand idea of giving the huge proceeds to charity.

The good news is that it's worked (yes, it's is right in this context). As soon as the first 10 pence dropped in the box, the errors completely dried up.

It seems money talks and my cunning plan has worked, although that's not so good for the charities who stood to pocket a fortune.

Before last week's calamity, I would have written about my Its Box and said: "Isn't it great how everyone's towed the line?"

And I would have looked even more foolish than I did last week.

By the way, in my desperation to be vindicated this week, I went on the internet and tried to justify the use of towing the line'.

To my initial joy, Wikipedia, the encyclopaedia website, actually recognised it as a phrase but then added: "This variant is grammatically suspect, as the verb tow refers to the object being towed, e.g. a car or a boat, not the mechanism by which it is towed, such as a rope or chain."

Meanwhile, a well-respected colleague informed me that toed the line' came from the Alamo. It was something to do with Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie stepping up to the mark and putting their toes on a line.

This is fascinating, but probably wildly untrue.

All I could find on the web to support the theory was a line in the Ballad of the Alamo which read: "Indian scouts with squirrel guns, men with muzzle loaders Stood together heel and toe to defend the Alamo."

I had no choice but to return to Wikipedia which said the expression toe the line' has disputed origins.

It could have come from athletics or the boxing ring or even the lines created by the deck planks on ships which naval crews used to fall in line'.

The longest-running use of the phrase is from the House of Commons where sword-strapped members were instructed to stand behind lines that were more than a sword's length from their political rivals.

"Thus the cry to toe the line' was echoed to return order to the House and quell a potential mortal conflict," says Wikipedia.

There was sadly no mention of the Alamo.

However, I have a completely alternative theory - because I believe the saying originates from Shakespeare.

I'm sure it was the Bard who famously wrote: "Toe be or not toe be, that is the question."