Thank you everyone. I always learn something from all of you.
The only thing that I think "some" (not everyone) of you missed is this sentence from my OP
"Yes; I know that there are a myriad of ways to attack this problem. This example is for newbies."Although many superior examples were demonstrated I posted this "Tip" in the Beginners section
for the purpose of
1. Showing the BEGINNER how iterating over a string via a loop can go mysteriously(for him) wrong.
2. Challenging the BEGINNER to discover why the unexpected (for him) error occurs.
As regards the sometimes heated debates here I think it is good to remember that
1. English is not everyone's first language and shades of meaning as well as humor can be missed
2. If we weren't pedantic before starting programming we certainly became so afterwards.

Again; thank you everyone who contributed to the conversation. I will mark it as solved.
Klaatu Barada Nikto