The magazine that pays me to copyedit also employs writers to, well, write. And while I realize they've been hired for their technical expertise, not to be slaves to grammar and spelling, must sentences like the
Quantum is being threatened with delisting by the New York Stork Exchange.
It hurts.
6 comments:
Jim,
It hurs me to say that it took me a second to find your objection, and hurt.
It hurts me more that I typed hurs and didn't catch it.
All hail the copy editors of the world.
The Atlanta newspaper wrote a headline about the "BSC" college football rankings recently. Strong work.
Delisting by the Stork Exchange can really fuck you up.
First, you do have to give kudos for spell check. Too many people do not use it. (Witness an email wish received today that a co-worker's sister was "felling beatter.")
Second, does delisting by the Stork Exchange in any way deter the mythical delivery of babies?
The human brain is a wonderful thing. It fills in gaps and fixes errors in comprehension. Hence, it wasn't until I read Punkinsmom's comment that I saw the word "Stork". My brain just took the entire "NYSE" thing as a cohesive block of information that it already had and didn't need to input again.
This is why most people cannot QA their own work. It is also why most people aren't qualified to QA the work of others.
That kind of copyeditor's mindset is a rare thing. A blessing in the workplace, but as I have found, it can be an absolute curse in a marriage, if trucked out at the wrong time.
Post a Comment