I agree.

Whan awfult a time to be alive

  $ echo "What a time to be alive" | sed s/a/an awful/
  sed: -e expression #1, char 6: unterminated `s' command

Whan awfult a time, indeed. :( Shoulda ran fred instead of sed.

at least they didn't add /g

To be honest there were a lot of "small" paid utility programs around mid-2000.