(no subject)

[rivka]

This is the worst job of professional copyediting I have ever seen.

I understand spell-check errors. I can tolerate "silting" for "sitting," I guess, and I can rescue the meaning when "for" is substituted for "floor." I wince, but I see how it happens.

But then there are the errors that make the author look stupid. Please do not have a character adjust her "economically perfect desk chair," because you will jolt me right out of the story. And FOR THE LOVE OF GOD do not have a bunch of college-educated professionals who work with language for a living as newspaper reporters and columnists keep using the construction "suppose to."

Somewhere in the dimly-lit corners of Cornell University, a bust of William Strunk, Jr. has tears trickling down its dusty face.

Updated to add: ZOMG someone just ordered "trench fries."

Comments

[lietya.livejournal.com]

*winces*

What book was this, so that I may avoid it with extreme prejudice?

(One of the occupational hazards of being a copyeditor, for me, is overwhelming frustration and irritation at encountering a situation where I feel like I'm now "working" rather than "recreational reading." I'd go nuts right along with you over that one.)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I've also found that being a professional writer interferes with my recreational reading. "Didn't anyone *proofread* this damn book?"

[lietya.livejournal.com]

It's kind of a shame, in a way. I'm glad it's not just me, though.

Sometimes I wonder if proofreading/copyediting is seriously becoming an optional item - between budget cuts and the invention of spellcheck, it seems it must be tempting to put out (probably the low profit margin?) books that simply were *not* reviewed.

*sigh*

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It's the 2007 hardcover reissue of Laura Lippman's Charm City, by William Morrow.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

That's too bad; I've liked some of her other work.

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

I recently read a few chapters of a book where the main character "garnished numerous awards and promotions." I can only assume it was with parsley.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

While I can believe that as most likely intended to be "garnered" if I look at it crossways and shut one eye I could make myself believe it makes sense with "garnished" in the wage garnishment sense, pinching the awards and promotions to pay off a debt sort of thing.

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

No, the context was about what a great employee this guy had been. It was clearly intended to be "garnered."

[lietya.livejournal.com]

The image of parsley cracked me up!

I suppose if one won literal laurels, parsley *might* be reasonable decoration. ;)

[ckd]

Well, the sage Rosemary said it was thyme.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

I have an economically perfect desk chair. In retrospect, though, I wish I'd gone for a somewhat more expensive and more ergonomic one.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I did eventually discover that the one urban fantasy that refers to the "Marinaras Trench" was something the copyeditor had fixed and the writer had insisted on putting back the way it was. I am haunted by the notion that if one goes deep enough in the ocean one enters the hidden tomato sauce layer.

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

Now I want to make a lasagna based on plate tectonics.

[aendr.livejournal.com]

What a good idea!

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

You an explain plate tectonics with very thick soup and slices of crisp bread.

Ahem. The things geographers know...

[rivka.livejournal.com]

That's going to be my theory from now on.

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Maybe that's where one finds the lair of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

That copyeditor must have been unbelievably frustrated.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I heard this story from the copyeditor in question, and yes, that would be an accurate summation of the situation.

[redbird]

Thank you.

There's a lot of poorly or not-at-all copyedited and proofread stuff out there, and the copyeditors (or absence thereof) are blamed even when the fault is in no sense theirs. Along with the writers who will think "oh, right, Marianas, why was I so obsessed with dinner that chapter?" or just notice the fix and okay it, there will be one who has the error that firmly in their brain.

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's a good, cheap desk chair ;)

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you should tell her about it?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

*blink*

To what possible purpose?

[wcg.livejournal.com]

So she knows her copyeditor is falling down on the job.

[kateyule.livejournal.com]

Hm. I cynically assume the author has no power in such situations, but wonder about prodding the publisher, for the same reason wcg cites.

[carbonel]

In my experience, the author has a limited amount of power, and knowing about the problems means he or she can do something.

In of one Bruce Schneier's books (which I copyedited), a couple of instances of the Unix command "fingerd" got changed to "fingered" by some allegedly helpful typesetter after it the galleys had been corrected and signed off on. Catching it right away meant that subsequent printings (which happened fairly soon) got fixed.

The first version of Pat Wrede's Mairelon the Magician was apparently copyedited by someone who was unfamiliar with Regency slang. The most egregious bit was "Coo!" being transformed into "Cool." There were also font issues; the book was printed in a font that eats its own punctuation. Because of that, when the book was being reprinted, Pat got Tor to let Pat (and Pat got me) to look over the galleys, when they'd initially planned to go straight from book to press, because nothing was being changed, after all. Nothing, ha. I think close to half the pages had changes marked after I got through with them. To be fair, the sequel was much cleaner, though I found a few doozies there as well.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

There are a number of places where such errors can be introduced. To me, 'trench fries' for instacne looks like an artefact introduced in a scanning/typesetting phase; it's a different kind of mistakes to 'economic' for 'ergonomic'.

I'd say it's fair cop to complain to the publisher - it's their job to put out a good product, and to *not* skimp on the copy editing/proofreading stages.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Please don't, it will just make her unhappy when it's too late to help.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought. Thanks for confirming. I've seen enough of your posts about AUGH COPYEDITING over the years...

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

"trench fries" sounds like a particularly grim bit of military slang, though I think my mind is conflating napalm with WWI inappropriately there.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

You mean like the EMT's "crispy critters"?

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

According to Wikipedia (here's your grain of salt), there were flamethrowers used in WWI, so it isn't an impossible phrase.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

In this case, Wikipedia is correct. But the phrase still feels wrong to me. What did Americans call what they now call "French fries"? Until you have that, I don't think you can plausibly have the "trench fries" phrase.

But I am a little more familiar with the sorts of things British soldiers said, even though my Grandfather is supposed to have spent some time in the trenches with the Americans, passing on his experience.

It's a bit hard to reconcile the timing with when he was wounded and in hospital.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

They're going to get trench mouth from those trench fries!