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Editing! Where is it these days?
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A previous employer was always on my case for something trivial. One day she chewed me out for a spelling error in an email to her. Here exact words were "Chack your spelling." My daughter (who had also worked for her) still get a good laugh over this ...
I just got finished reading a book for one of my classes that had horrible editing.But the thing that bothered me the most is that this was a book written by a very educated man to teachers, telling us that we need to listen to him and implement his ideas about education because he knows how to 'fix' everything and blah blah blah.
I could not take this book seriously at all, because the man couldn't spell, or use proper grammar, so why the hell would I take advice from him on how to run a school??
I'm so glad to see I'm not the only one with Editing OCD LOL.Whenever I see something that just screams out, I want to correct it on the page myself and then get a hold of the person(s) responsible.
My hubby looks for film mistakes, while I edit everything in site. LOL (including store ads)
Once, I was at a retail store (*cough, Kmart) and the store/homemade sign read, "3 Packs of DVD-RW for $5.00" and it should have said, "3PK DVD-RW for $5.00" so needless to say I got a pretty good deal. I told the manager it was a good thing for them that it wasn't a 100 pack!
Beth- I edit other signs all the time too.I just passed a car the other day that was also advertisement for a business. The huge sign on the side read 'personel traning'. It had a picture of a weight lifter, so I assume that it was supposed to be 'personal training'. I almost called the number on the car to complain!
I hate seeing those kinds of things. Especially now when it's so easy to see if you're correct or not. I was just reading a magazine and I found 5 spelling errors and grammar failures. Apparently they only have an editor for looks.
It does seem to be getting a lot worse. And a lot of the vanity presses dont edit at ALL.
Paula wrote: "I've encountered misspelled words and improper grammer before but the best were missing pages. I took the book back to B&N and the few copies they had left were also missing the same page. :o("
It wouldn't have been If On a Winter's Night a Traveler would it? (Where that happens in the story...)
It wouldn't have been If On a Winter's Night a Traveler would it? (Where that happens in the story...)
I hate that! When you're reading and you come across an error. I become unfocused from the story; focusing solely on the error! It's the one thing that frustrates me super easily.
How much do all of you think that e-mail contributes to what you are accurately describing as a pervasive problem?Advertising, of course, has historically assaulted proper usage, most famously is the slogan, Winston Takes Good Like A Cigarette Should.
It's not just e-mailing of course, but all of the new technologies that are impacting usage.
This isn't the first time our language has been drastically changed because of its collision with a new technology.
When the telegraph first emerged, and gained widespread use during the Civil War, newspaper correspondents filing from battlefields in subsequent wars began tightening up their prose. If you're charged by the word, you tend to writer shorter. But, if you're Dickens and you're paid by the word, you go on and on and on and ...
Instead of flowery descriptions, short and brief ruled the day for American journalism.
Consider this: many of the major American writers of the early 20th century began as newspaper reporters, so their shorter writing styles, forged in telegraphed news accounts, stayed with them as they began writing novels.
So the influential stylists held sway over novels for most of the 20th century.
But with the rise of the Internet, are we witnessing multiple results: the infinite space of the Internet is permitting people to write longer and longer while at the same time the instant messaging and texting is resulting in many people abandoning all pretense of proper grammar and usage rules while writing shorter and shorter?
What are your predictions for the future of our language?
(Also, proof-readers are viewed as wasted overhead so publishers aren't paying to police their books.)
I predict a hot mess. But I'm a pessimist.
Susanna wrote: "I predict a hot mess. But I'm a pessimist."At least you're a pessimist with a sense of humor.
Tom wrote: "...It's not just e-mailing of course, but all of the new technologies that are impacting usage. ..."
And here's a perfect example of language that changes (not at all a criticism, Tom, just stating the facts...):
I would never have said "impacting", I would have said "technologies that have an impact on usage".
But that's what language does, change; it has been changing ever since the first syllable was uttered. We wouldn't speak English (or my husband Italian) if language didn't change.
And here's a perfect example of language that changes (not at all a criticism, Tom, just stating the facts...):
I would never have said "impacting", I would have said "technologies that have an impact on usage".
But that's what language does, change; it has been changing ever since the first syllable was uttered. We wouldn't speak English (or my husband Italian) if language didn't change.
Tom wrote: "Susanna wrote: "I predict a hot mess. But I'm a pessimist."At least you're a pessimist with a sense of humor."
It got me through my stroke!
Hayes wrote: "Tom wrote: "...It's not just e-mailing of course, but all of the new technologies that are impacting usage. ..."And here's a perfect example of language that changes (not at all a criticism, Tom..."
Glad that's not a criticism. :-)
You're right. Lanaguage does change and even though I am a purist in terms of grammar and usage, I have no problem with words morphing (how about that one!).
It's what makes it a living language. And it's why it's so dynamic. You don't see Latin usage changing much over the past couple of thousand years. But as long as English - which is becoming the global lingua franca (there I go again) it must remain elastic to accommodate a changing world.
It's why we can accommodate Shakespeare and Joyce.
Newpapers are absolutely horrible on the editing these days too. The Washington Post has tons of errors. And it is even worse online.
Newspapers are cutting back on staff. The senior reporters and editors are leaving in mass buyouts and being replaced by less expensive and much younger people who do not have the experience or the skills that come with experience.You get what you pay for.
Whenever I see errors like that I always wonder how well the research of the article has been done if they can't even be bothered on how to spell a simple word. One thing might not have to do with another but that's always what my mind leaps to.
It's not questionable grammar that gets me the most. When I was taught grammar, you were never to begin a sentence with the word "but". That does not seem to be the rule any longer. I'm okay with language changing like that.My problem is with obvious typos in books. For example, the repetition of a word or phrase in a sentence. Or the wrong word, but one that's close and actually a word so that spell-check misses it, but any casual reader notices.
I get really upset when I've paid for a book and the publisher didn't even care enough about their product to have it proof-read. And they get away with it because you can't return a book because there were typos.
I hate typos in books too. I've done copy-editing in the past and its such a tedious task that now, unless I'm being paid for it, I don't edit anyone's work, my own included. I feel as you do, Adrienne, if I've paid for a book, it should be properly edited. That includes self-published books.
If typos weren't bad enough. I've noticed lately obvious errors in character names. You'd think something like that would be picked up on a first careful read.
Not an editing issue, but I want to know when 'woman' became plural and 'women' singular. I see this everywhere and it drives me crazy.
Dan wrote: "Not an editing issue, but I want to know when 'woman' became plural and 'women' singular. I see this everywhere and it drives me crazy."Good God.
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Also a pompous ass. He was not popular with the class after he gave us the same lecture on the opening chapters of Treasure Island every day for two weeks!