Who Needs Copy Editors, Anyway?

[estragon]

I just found this in my inbox. For all I know, it may be very old news, but here goes:

"If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid, too.

"Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseaethe huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!"

 

[Dual_Triode]

Odldy eonguh, it was pnuctuaetd croreclty.

 

[Euphony]

Ive seen this before but doubt the 55 of 100 number. (I believe its a higher % of people who can)

People dont really get how f'ing amazing the human machine is as its so commonplace for us. And I can think of no greater reminder of this than the female sexual response. Who needs outerspace when awe begins at home? ;-)

 

[Brandie69]

Yeah, I'm with Euphony, estragon. I think the percentage who could decipher that approaches 100.

But "Could" and "Want-To" walked into a bar, where they sat down next to an Irishman and a couple of blondes....

Incidentally, spelling is always important. I tell all my students about the restaurant that advertised its daily special: "pee soup."

 

[nicecthulhu]

I could read it because that's how I usually spell...plus I have a five year old who's learning to write.

 

[sr71plt]

I have practice on this sort of thing. My own copyeditor is dyslexic. He can catch my "trasnpsostiions," but not his own.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Incidentally, spelling is always important. I tell all my students about the restaurant that advertised its daily special: "pee soup."

I have fond memories of one that was offering "warm crap salad". (Supposed to be 'crab'.)

 

[sun_sea_sky]

There was something similar a while back: reed allowed pleas

I can't find a copy, sadly. If you read it out, it made sense (ie. read aloud, please). But almost every word in it had substituted another (correctly spelt) English word that happened to be pronounced the same as the word it replaced.

 

[Brandie69]

I have fond memories of one that was offering "warm crap salad". (Supposed to be 'crab'.)

I remember that place. They had a sign that said "restrooms are not for use of the pubic."

So I always made sure I was well-groomed before going there.

 

[lovecraft68]

If you read on a regular basis. This is easy to pick up your mind just assumes the words.

What this shows though is why its hard to self edit your work because your mind is assuming what the next word is because you wrote it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have fond memories of one that was offering "warm crap salad". (Supposed to be 'crab'.)

I always come back to one that I found in my story(fortunately it was during my final pass through) where I said, "He wrapped his arms around her waste"

That, I believe was one of the instances where I may not have spelled it that way, but word "corrected" it.

But that would have been an ugly one.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I always come back to one that I found in my story(fortunately it was during my final pass through) where I said, "He wrapped his arms around her waste"

That, I believe was one of the instances where I may not have spelled it that way, but word "corrected" it.

But that would have been an ugly one.

Speaking of spell-checkers - at least I assume it was a spell-checker snafu - Lit has a couple of stories that were apparently meant to be about burglars but ended up being about buglers. Some weird mental images there.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

From what I see copy editors miss lotsa errors. One goof that sticks in my mind is a word I read in an article in the NYTimes, PASSED was used in place of PAST. THE GOP IS LIVING IN THE PASSED. Dont I know it!

 

[lovecraft68]

From what I see copy editors miss lotsa errors. One goof that sticks in my mind is a word I read in an article in the NYTimes, PASSED was used in place of PAST. THE GOP IS LIVING IN THE PASSED. Dont I know it!

I think this is words "defaults"

I've found I can;t rely just on spellcheck because in your example "passed" is a word so it doesn't pick it up.

Also I have noticed the word 'site' keeps showing up in my work instead of "sight"

I know I can make typos but once it was 4 times in a story and I think if I do hit the wrong key word is coming up with 'site'

does Their and there a lot as well.

 

[sr71plt]

There's no such thing as perfect copy. The more errors there are in the copy passed to the editor, the more that will remain when the editor is done with it. However, the buck on errors stops with the author. In publishing, any original error found in the copy after the editor has processed it is still racked up to an "Author's Editor" and charged to the author. It's their mistake. They own it no matter who doesn't manage to get it corrected down the line. The editor is only charged for the errors introduced by the editor (and this happens too).

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I think this is words "defaults"

I've found I can;t rely just on spellcheck because in your example "passed" is a word so it doesn't pick it up.

Also I have noticed the word 'site' keeps showing up in my work instead of "sight"

I know I can make typos but once it was 4 times in a story and I think if I do hit the wrong key word is coming up with 'site'

does Their and there a lot as well.

HERES ANUTHER EXAMPLE:
“There is no reason why are kids cannot be in school while the union reviews the agreement,” school board president David Vitale said at a Sunday evening news conference.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

I always come back to one that I found in my story(fortunately it was during my final pass through) where I said, "He wrapped his arms around her waste"

That was a particularly horrible example (he says through tears of laughter).

He kissed her waste.
Her waste smelt wonderful.
"Your waste is lovely."

 

[estragon]

Not if you're writing coprophilia. There doesn't seem to be a Lit rule against that, but I don't see much, if anything at all, in that particular fetish.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Estrogent is strangely silent about tard copy editors.

 

[lovecraft68]

Not if you're writing coprophilia. There doesn't seem to be a Lit rule against that, but I don't see much, if anything at all, in that particular fetish.

I can't stand those, they're usually pretty shitty stories.

 

[rjordan]

I always come back to one that I found in my story(fortunately it was during my final pass through) where I said, "He wrapped his arms around her waste"

That, I believe was one of the instances where I may not have spelled it that way, but word "corrected" it.

But that would have been an ugly one.

I just did a search on "her waste" and it brought up 20 PAGES of lit stories in all categories. That's around 400 stories. On the first page of the list, ten of them have a little red H.

I would have guessed it would be much much higher than that. I swear half the stories I read use waste instead of waist.

rj

 

[RodenAddison]

..........

 

[lovecraft68]

I just did a search on "her waste" and it brought up 20 PAGES of lit stories in all categories. That's around 400 stories. On the first page of the list, ten of them have a little red H.

I would have guessed it would be much much higher than that. I swear half the stories I read use waste instead of waist.

rj

It won't "underline" in word. I go through mine with words spellcheck, the go through it once myself which is how I

I think when people start reading, especially sex scenes, they may not catch it. By then they're reading with their eyes, but something else is beginning to do the thinking.

again like the OP's blurb, people are "assuming" the correct word, the mind thinks waist and that's what it is picking up.

 

[rjordan]

It won't "underline" in word. I go through mine with words spellcheck, the go through it once myself which is how I

I think when people start reading, especially sex scenes, they may not catch it. By then they're reading with their eyes, but something else is beginning to do the thinking.

again like the OP's blurb, people are "assuming" the correct word, the mind thinks waist and that's what it is picking up.

Not sure what you mean by underline, but Word will not catch it as a spelling error or a grammatical error because waste and waist are real words.

But for words I am prone to use inadvertently, I just do a quick find in Open Office (the free version of Word). I sometimes type pubic when I mean public, so if there are any instances of pubic in something I write, I want to make sure it was intentional. Find lets me check them for context. I'd do the same with waste if it was something I had problems with. I can't think of any time I've used waste in a Lit story so an instance of it would probably mean a screw up.

rj

 

[sr71plt]

Not sure what you mean by underline, but Word will not catch it as a spelling error or a grammatical error because waste and waist are real words.

"waste" is a legitimate word, so Word spellcheck won't highlight it as a questionable spelling (ergo underline it in red) if the intended word was "waist." I think that's what he meant. (It might underline it in blue as a grammar challenge, though.)