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Help please . What does this mean ?

(10 Posts)
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Gemini17892 Tue 03-Mar-20 17:04:32

I’m reading Plainsong by Kent Haruf in which he writes that he “took an examination ditto out of the drawer “ . I haven’t seen ditto used like that before. I can guess but can anyone tell me what exactly it is ? And whether it is still used in the US ?

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HAZBEEN Tue 03-Mar-20 17:17:50

From what I seem to remember its a type of copy machine but I may be wrong!

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Gemini17892 Tue 03-Mar-20 17:27:10

Thank you. I think you’re right. A bit further on it tells about putting the master into a machine and running off some copies so I think it’s a practice sheet for the students.

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Marilla Tue 03-Mar-20 23:03:58

Which page is the quote from?
It might be helpful to read it in context.

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Gemini17892 Wed 04-Mar-20 08:44:00

It’s on page 20 at the bottom. I think HAZBEEN is right because it mentions copy machine a bit further on. . It must be the US version of the Banda . Remember those ?
Have you read the book ?

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Luckygirl Wed 04-Mar-20 09:37:45

Is it a misprint? - could it be dildo? grin

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Brigidsdaughter Mon 30-Mar-20 01:43:44

I loved Plainsong

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welbeck Mon 30-Mar-20 04:19:03

from the context i guess it is a type of master copy which is used to make numerous others.
perhaps on one of those machines where the master was held with pins somehow, and a big handle turned, which produced the copies, like a kind of automated duplicating; was it called a gestetner brand. vague memories swirling around of music copy.

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welbeck Mon 30-Mar-20 04:20:28

i used to read widely, and i have never come across that usage.
is it exclusively american.

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kircubbin2000 Mon 30-Mar-20 06:59:12

If you Google ditto copy machine you can see a picture of it.

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