Wrong Line Day

Wrong Line Day - September 2

Have you ever filled out a form incorrectly by putting something on the wrong line? All it takes is a badly designed form or just being distracted to botch up a form, sometimes (especially on government forms) forcing you to go through the whole thing again. (Murphy's Law ensures that you won't make or notice the mistake until you're nearly done with the form.)

We celebrate Wrong Line Day on September 2 because of a potentially impactful signature that went on the wrong line in 1945. The Canadian representative signing the "Japanese Instrument of Surrender", documenting the end of WWII, signed on the wrong line. It's unclear how Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrove made this mistake, triggering every following signatory (France, Netherlands, and New Zealand) to also sign on incorrect lines.

It sounds like the Japanese considered making a big deal out of this, but the instrument got hand-corrected country names before things went overboard. There was a moment though where there was some question whether WWII was truly over.