Nonpartisan rant about sloppy editing...
Nonpartisan rant about sloppy editing in professional communications.
Why the hell is it so difficult for someone with an excellent command of written communication to get a job as a writer or editor when things like this get printed and sent to millions of people?:
This from Howard Dean. It's pretty likely Howard didn't write this email himself, and had an intern or member of his staff do the dirty work, but surely, Howard would have had an editorial process in place that would eliminate mistakes like "...Bush plans announce that..." and "...another thing coming." (The proper phrase is another think coming.)
This carries on to journalism and publishing. Nearly every day I find mistakes in almost any newspaper or magazine that I read. Today my local free city rag mixed up "conservation" and "conversation", even in a feature where the mixed meanings would have given an illogical result had the correct term been used.
God... I won't even begin with errors in stories on sites like MacNN and Apple Insider!
People who publish: please, just read more. Read more. READ MORE! And people who hire editors: don't accept mediocrity.
That's one of the things I love about these forums. For every Trumptman who sounds educated but makes loads of editorial mistakes (I'm not talking about typographic errors), there are brilliant writers like Adda and Groverat, who rarely make mistakes in usage or content. In my opinion writers in the class of the Addas and the Groverats don't seem to hang around the MacNN forums...
I know I'm going to get flamed for this.
End of rant.
Why the hell is it so difficult for someone with an excellent command of written communication to get a job as a writer or editor when things like this get printed and sent to millions of people?:
Quote:
"Last night, George Bush plans announce that he wants to send tens of thousands more troops to Iraq.
The American people oppose it. The generals, both active-duty and retired, say that it won't help. But George Bush thinks he can do it anyway.
He's got another thing coming."
"Last night, George Bush plans announce that he wants to send tens of thousands more troops to Iraq.
The American people oppose it. The generals, both active-duty and retired, say that it won't help. But George Bush thinks he can do it anyway.
He's got another thing coming."
This from Howard Dean. It's pretty likely Howard didn't write this email himself, and had an intern or member of his staff do the dirty work, but surely, Howard would have had an editorial process in place that would eliminate mistakes like "...Bush plans announce that..." and "...another thing coming." (The proper phrase is another think coming.)
This carries on to journalism and publishing. Nearly every day I find mistakes in almost any newspaper or magazine that I read. Today my local free city rag mixed up "conservation" and "conversation", even in a feature where the mixed meanings would have given an illogical result had the correct term been used.
God... I won't even begin with errors in stories on sites like MacNN and Apple Insider!
People who publish: please, just read more. Read more. READ MORE! And people who hire editors: don't accept mediocrity.
That's one of the things I love about these forums. For every Trumptman who sounds educated but makes loads of editorial mistakes (I'm not talking about typographic errors), there are brilliant writers like Adda and Groverat, who rarely make mistakes in usage or content. In my opinion writers in the class of the Addas and the Groverats don't seem to hang around the MacNN forums...
I know I'm going to get flamed for this.
End of rant.
Comments
Face it, papers like the Seattle Pee-Pee are written by high school students; the American educational system is in full dry-rot mode. I just worked on a video script for a "pre Algebra" text. I'd have to say there is something rotten in Des Moines, and elsewhere.
But as professional editor, this thread caught my eye.
Your point is definitely valid. I saw a headline today that read: Teacher on Trial for Photographing Teen Boys Found Dead.
I'm a sucker (or sick, you decide), and by the end of the (short) article, I was still wondering where the dead teen boys he found dead and photographed came into the story. (Then I figured it out.)
But I would contend that some of the best typos don't actually make it to print. There was the answering machine that would rewind and resent itself. The song sung by Christ (wow!). In an accouting book, there was the column labeled "Fixed Tangible Asses." And, my favorite, the label for Dicked Peaches.
I wouldn't be too harsh on the journalists. I work on college textbooks and so the writers I'm checking all have Ph.D.s, and still there's nothing like a misplaced modifier to put a real good laugh in your day. And, of course, I have NO real good examples handy. If I get a chance and this thread lasts, I'll see if I can dig some up (unattributed, of course).