it continues....

[lagilman]

Dear Copyeditor: Yes, I wanted "sat his horse" not "sat on his horse." Yes, that is the correct usage. Look it up. I'll wait....

(Google informs me that hacks like Jack London and Cormac McCarthy and Chaucer used the phrase. Also, Hemingway. And, as a point of modern reference, every riding instructor I ever had.)


I am getting v. tired of this copyeditor 'fixing' things that aren't broken. Give me back my last CE, please. S/he rocked.

Comments

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Oy. Just oy.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Now, see, I wouldn't have known that. Although in context, it might've made sense and I might've left it.

But then, this would likely be the only stetting you were doing on me, as opposed to the other crap that's being "fixed" on you, from the sound of it...

[lagilman]

A copyeditor's job is

a) to Know Stuff and

b) be able and willing to look up stuff s/he doesn't know, rather than assuming that the writer is wrong.

Otherwise, you're not a CE, you're just some schmuck with a red pencil and a god complex.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Thing is, a phrasing difference like that is, in many many cases, actually an error - when it appears that a word is missing. I'm a former horsewoman, and I can't recall hearing "sat his horse" in context (although it's been a long time).

Then again, I get a lot of writers who do leave out words regularly, so perhaps I'm conditioned to assume that there's a word missing, rather than something being a specific phrase that doesn't include that word.

[lagilman]

This is a common phrase and 3 seconds on Google would have showed that. The first thing my copyediting course taught was "when in doubt, check your sources, and if you're not 100% certain, you're in doubt."

The second thing we were taught was "don't fuck with the writer's voice; that's not your job."

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

It's common-enough usage that I know it, and I haven't touched a horse in over fifty years. Picked it up through reading other stuff.

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

This. I would have totally looked something up first before trying to change it.

Who knew that all this time when I put my CE hat on for work I could have been just going nuts with the red pen instead of trying to, oh, THINK about what I was reading?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Filled with stabbity stabbity hate on your behalf.

[lagilman]

Argh. If someone says "Truth" in response to a statement, then yes, I mean they say "Truth," not "true." "Truth" is someone testifying. "True" is someone saying "yeah, that's true."

I know it's subtle, but subtle =/= incorrect.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

The ones who become obsessed with their own importance are a real pain -- I had one like that on my 5th academic book and he drove me insane, because he 'corrected' my technical language in ways that proved he had no idea what I was actually talking about.

[lagilman]

This one can't seem to get out of her modern usage mindset - a character refers to waxing his hair, as part of a primping session (sarcastically) and she flagged it because it makes her think of hair removal.

Unfortunately, pomade is not accurate in this period, and I'm coming up blank on a term that would mean the same thing and not break the casual throw-away moment of the joke. *stares at manuscript*


But he WOULD wax his hair, damn it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Brilliantine? Or is that too modern?

[lagilman]

Far too modern, alas. I've changed it to "braiding" which has a similar feel if not the same foppish resonance.

And onward to the next.

[matticrafts.livejournal.com]

...but I like the WAXING reference. I have a brain that is, more often than I realize, kinda medieval and/or renaissance-y. (and YES, those ARE two different things, dammit!!)

[lagilman]

I liked the waxing reference, too. But it was a small moment and easily replaced without any real loss.

[jslinder.livejournal.com]

I wonder if you have someone who is using an automated CE tool that 'checks' grammar and spelling (there are a few being offered out there and they are generally rubbish).

[lagilman]

Considering how many misspellings/typos I've found that the CE missed (while focusing on the things that weren't broken), I doubt it...


(I count on the CE to catch any misspellings J and I miss. The fact that she's falling down on that part too is a large portion of my frustration...)

[lagilman]

"An image was sent to him" is not the same as "an image came to him."

Really.

[lagilman]

"inform" versus "form." Discuss.

[mikaela-l.livejournal.com]

I would have written sat on his horse. Why? Because sat his horse gives me the impression that he lifts a horse up, and put it down :). But, I am not a professional copy editor, and English is my second language. If I am unsure of a word I check it up. It isn't that hard...

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

Mark Twain had some wonderful things to say about copyeditors-- he was the one who said that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. He also wrote an open letter to the copyeditor of his book on Joan of Arc which included such comments as "You should edit only when awake," and "You ought to take your brain out and have it cleaned; you can see for yourself it's all caked up."