Word 5 - Looking for Specific Example Document

sam256

New Tinkerer
Oct 14, 2025
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This is both a pretty random question and a shot in the dark, but here goes.

When I was a kid we had Word 5 (or maybe 5.1) on our Mac Plus. I spent a lot of time learning to use it, and that included a lot of time going through various pieces of documentation. I have this vivid memory of an example file that was referenced in the docs. I can't remember if it was an actual document on a disk or just something that there were screenshots of in the documentation. I also can't be sure if it was official Microsoft documentation or something third party, though I feel pretty sure it was official.

In any event, the thing about the sample file was that it was an article about what to do if you were flying a plane and there was a snake in the cockpit (it could have been a bee, but I'm pretty sure it was a snake). And the bottom line of the article was -- don't worry about the snake; just fly the plane.

For whatever reason, that particular lesson--which I think actually has a lot of general applicability in life--stuck with me, which is a little weird since it was just a sample article in a sample document on how to use Word. In any event, the other day I tried to see if I could find it online somewhere. And I can't. I looked at all the documentation on Macintosh Garden, as well as the sample files that came with Word and, while they are in the same vein -- i.e., attempts to look like "real" documents with real content -- I can't find that one.

Does this trigger a memory in any one else? Does anyone know where that file is? Maybe I'm hallucinating, but my dad remembers it too. Ha.
 
I've actually spent an embarrassing amount of time going through those and can't find it. The sample documents from Word 4.0 though did trigger quite a memory -- which makes me think maybe that was the version -- though i still can't find that document. But those samples are worth looking at anyway! The newsletter "Far Out" -- which was an alien newspaper, and the Journal article on "the periphrastic 'do'" They don't make sample docs like that anymore :)
 
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