Hickey:
These terms all basically refer to a single offset printing phenomenon, best known as the hickey. A hickey is a spot or halo on the printed image that resembles a donut or bullseye.
A hickey occurs when a piece of dust or random mote sticks to either the plate or blanket of the offset printing press or the printing medium, which causes an imperfection on the printed page. Other potential causes include degradation in the press rollers, paper fibers and solid particles suspended in printing ink. [Sun Print Solutions]
This came up in conversation with my Arts Editor, who grew up in a family that ran a small publishing company for a living, while watching an old rerun of Carol Burnett, in which one of her camera men remarks she’s probably never had a hickey.
Which was fun, but not as funny as when an audience member asked about “boom microphones”, and Carol remarked they weren’t shotguns and the audience members in the first row could uncross their legs. She meant they could relax, but it came across as quite inappropriate and, therefore, funnier than Hell.
Which is a really odd remark – funnier than Hell – if you think about it.
