Gramer lessins
Just yesterday I was talking with a store patron about WHY careful editing is so important. We were talking about our proof copies of upcoming books. These advance editions clearly state that they are not final, but are only proofs provided to us for evaluation purposes. Accordingly, they can often be quite a pain to read if you are sensitive to a) facts, b) spelling, c) grammar, and/or d) story continuity.
Recently, my wife was reading an advance copy of one novel. Suddenly, I heard a scream from our living room and rushed in to see what was wrong. It seems that about one-third of the way through the book the author had decided to change the name of a central character. Who the heck was “Susan” and why was she sleeping with “Mary’s” husband?
Anyway, I told my patron my feelings on typos, particularly in professional writing. We learn to spell from reading. When we read a new word in what we believe to be an authoritative document (newspaper, book, encyclopedia), we internalize it. Some time after that, we are likely to write it…or say it aloud. When the “authoritative document” gets it wrong, it’s just like sneezing in someone’s face. Those germs will infect and are likely to go on and infect others.
Which brings me to today’s feeble rant.
In The Tribune’s front page story (and I still think I saw Amany Ali's byline on the article I read - my apologies if I've grown accustomed to her style and misidentified the writer, but I'd swear I saw her name on the story) on the county’s plan commission request to Sammy O’s owner Sam Oskin, she quotes commission member Paul Riggs as saying “What we’re looking for is assurity from someone trained in the safety field, as far as having an adequate fence that would preclude someone from falling or rocks that would potentially fall.”
Even if Mr. Riggs said those words – “assurity?” – don’t spread such hogwash. Before you know it, someone else will be using that word, thinking it’s a real word because they saw it in the paper. Maybe Mr. Riggs was seeking a “surety” or just mangled the word “assurance,” but the newspaper doesn’t need to be propagating mythical words.
Recently, my wife was reading an advance copy of one novel. Suddenly, I heard a scream from our living room and rushed in to see what was wrong. It seems that about one-third of the way through the book the author had decided to change the name of a central character. Who the heck was “Susan” and why was she sleeping with “Mary’s” husband?
Anyway, I told my patron my feelings on typos, particularly in professional writing. We learn to spell from reading. When we read a new word in what we believe to be an authoritative document (newspaper, book, encyclopedia), we internalize it. Some time after that, we are likely to write it…or say it aloud. When the “authoritative document” gets it wrong, it’s just like sneezing in someone’s face. Those germs will infect and are likely to go on and infect others.
Which brings me to today’s feeble rant.
In The Tribune’s front page story (and I still think I saw Amany Ali's byline on the article I read - my apologies if I've grown accustomed to her style and misidentified the writer, but I'd swear I saw her name on the story) on the county’s plan commission request to Sammy O’s owner Sam Oskin, she quotes commission member Paul Riggs as saying “What we’re looking for is assurity from someone trained in the safety field, as far as having an adequate fence that would preclude someone from falling or rocks that would potentially fall.”
Even if Mr. Riggs said those words – “assurity?” – don’t spread such hogwash. Before you know it, someone else will be using that word, thinking it’s a real word because they saw it in the paper. Maybe Mr. Riggs was seeking a “surety” or just mangled the word “assurance,” but the newspaper doesn’t need to be propagating mythical words.
posted by All4Word at 2:15 PM
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