tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266566846399659219.post4257759840978864565..comments2024-01-16T00:30:02.493-05:00Comments on That's the Press, Baby: Copy Editing: Why One Should Never AssumeDavisullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02871644412923946894noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266566846399659219.post-5360883158224837162008-02-20T16:35:00.000-05:002008-02-20T16:35:00.000-05:00"Copy editors in general don't like to get into el..."Copy editors in general don't like to get into elaborate discussions with reporters over things that seem obvious"<BR/><BR/>This is more to do with unwillingness to appear stupid in front of the reporter by asking what might turn out to be a dumb question than it is to do with not wanting to waste time. I used to feel that way in my youth: one of the benefits of growing older is that I don't care about asking stupid questions any more. If it confuses me, it'll confuse the reader. However, I'd agree with Mae Travels that the first rule of copy-editing has to be "do no harm".Terryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01703548364118364764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266566846399659219.post-58845688767156121142008-02-14T12:17:00.000-05:002008-02-14T12:17:00.000-05:00"Copy editors in general don't like to get into el..."Copy editors in general don't like to get into elaborate discussions with reporters over things that seem obvious"?<BR/><BR/>Thank the copy deities. I, an official, paid copy editor for the first time, was starting to feel like a slacker because I notice myself avoiding drawn-out discussions about things that "should" be obvious. It's true that I was hired partly to counteract the lack of copy-editing skill of the magazine editors who speak Spanish as their native language, so I might actually *be* slacking when I don't want to spend fifteen minutes arguing over a local style nitpick that someone keeps changing, but at least now I know it's a common copy editor trait and not just me being a bad copy editor. ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266566846399659219.post-48717343642675768282008-02-14T03:38:00.000-05:002008-02-14T03:38:00.000-05:00Did the reporter use the word "anniversary"? Anniv...Did the reporter use the word "anniversary"? Anniversaries occur once a year. <BR/>People have begun to ignore this definition, though; it's becoming common to hear of "six-month anniversaries" and such.<BR/>I sympathize with the copy editor who made the error on deadline, but you're right--when the facts don't add up, we shouldn't assume.<BR/><BR/>[Congrats on getting the blog off to a strong start, by the way.]Wayne Countrymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02597996824018369150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266566846399659219.post-53241071907280834382008-02-13T12:52:00.000-05:002008-02-13T12:52:00.000-05:00I used to be a technical writer. Sometimes we rece...I used to be a technical writer. Sometimes we received variously-written raw material from programmers or other techies. The way that I formulated your principle is this: <BR/><BR/>**It's better to leave an ambiguous sentence as is, than to change it so that it's flat-out wrong. <BR/><BR/>Of course the best choice is to ask the author which possible ambiguity was intended.Mae Travelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13328946930935633113noreply@blogger.com