It’s one of those undecided days; you know, rain in the air. Where else, but you know what I mean. And into the mix of misery, Clive James is dying. And when he’s quit, one of those sane, clever, funny voices will have left the stage. So just one grouse to enliven the day.
First, literals, misprints, inconsistencies, good old typos (not typo’s). They’re everywhere now: books, magazines, newspapers, websites (especially websites). Proliferating like festivals in the summer months, or celebrity biographies in the lead up to Christmas!
Whatever Happened to Proofreading?
Whatever happened to proofreading and editing? Standards have fallen through the floor. Well, have they? Are errors in books and the rest of the print world any more common than in the golden age? And just when was that? My grouse is that we all assume that there was a time when accuracy reigned, and when scrupulous proofreaders and copy-editors missed not a single trick.
Do Some Research
Well, why not do some research? Go to your library (some towns still have these quaint places) and spend an hour looking through a few elderly novels or biographies. Books printed more than twenty or thirty years ago. My own experience is that there were just as many slips then as now. Am I right? You tell me.
Your tweets most welcome!
Interesting question.
You are probably right when it comes to books. I think standards are poor in the electronic media. Just as email language seems to demand a less formal approach (never mind texting), it seems to me that inconsistencies, literals and jargon are becoming encouraged never mind accepted in the world of websites (yes including you, BBC News). Letters are somewhere in between, some well written and others irritatingly sloppy. I suspect they haven’t really changed over the decades. But it does seem to me that some companies don’t care much about tone, style or just looking at things from their customers’ point of view. I would love to put some things right but would they want to be bothered with having a random outsider interfere?
I totally agree. I have never read a book that did not still have some proofreading errors. Congrats Daisy, you put it so well.
Of course, in an ideal world all books would be error free, but that’s never happened yet and I very much doubt it ever will! One book I read recently had a horrific mixture of double and single quotation marks littered throughout one particular section, and some opening quotes without any corresponding closing ones. It felt as though the typesetter had had a total concentration lapse for a while – maybe it was time for his or her lunch break.As proofreaders, we do our best, and certainly ensure we don’t add new mistakes to proofs.