Copying from Copies...      

    A new monk arrives at the monastery.  He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand.  He notices, however, that they are copying from copies, not the original manuscripts.  So, the new monk goes to the head monk to ask him about this.  He points out that if there were an error in the first copy, that error would be continued in all of the other copies.

    The head monk says, “We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son.”  The new monk goes down into the cellar with one of the copies to check it against the original.

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