ATTN: Copyeditors and Grammar Fiends

yesterday i couldn't even blog on, it was so frustrating

This week's New Yorker has a shockingly obvious misspelling/typo in the Seabrook article! I was QUITE taken aback. Is this the first sign of the copyediting apocalypse?

yeah, i've seen a few typos in the new yorker lately.

Is this the first sign of the copyediting apocalypse?

the first sign was all those misplaced apostrophes on storefront marquees. this is probably more like the seventh sign.

When the Times of London reported in 1837 on two University of Paris law profs dueling with swords, the dispute wasn't over the fine points of the Napoleonic Code. It was over the point-virgule: the semicolon. "The one who contended that the passage in question ought to be concluded by a semicolon was wounded in the arm," noted the Times. "His adversary maintained that it should be a colon."

^^ REAL men

Would you say

"A and B correspond to X and Y respectively"

or

"A and B correspond respectively to X and Y"?

I am in the middle of a fight about this with my supervisor. One of them sounds just plain weird to me. My supervisor is French Canadian, so I don't trust him (about anything, not just English usage).

I would use the first one.

I'd go with the first one. I don't think I've even come across the seond usage.

one of my math professors was pretty intense in his belief that saying "respectively" is redundant. aside from that, both of those are correct, but you may need a comma before "respectively" in the first example.

I have also come across anti-"respectively" editors; I can go either way on that one. But yeah, I prefer the first example with a comma before "respectively" (at least in U.S. usage).

"The strength and weakness of the book are in its dream-like quality."

Why does the "are" in this sentence jar with me?

"My bat and my cap are in the car" sounds fine. I don't know.

I guess I'd write:

"The book's dream-like quality is its strength and its weakness." instead

The "in" is superfluous.

Two things "are" one thing, though?

yes, but one thing, in this case, is two things! tracer, i was about to post your exact alternative sentence.

It implies the strength is the weakness? I dunno.

The 1930s were a time of racism division.

or

The 1930s was a time of racism division.

?

Neither???

The 1930s WERE a time of RACIAL division.

Though probably not in Sweden.

The 1930s were a time of racism and division.

Sorry - was slotting in other words to replace the real ones and cocked up.

(ie forget about racial and racism. It's just the was/were thing.)

1930s = plural
decade = singular

this happens a lot. it's ok.

While I do consider myself a Grammar Fiend, I am a little bit confused over the usage of "its" and "it's".

o_O

haha yeah i know, that's like the #1 question in the Are You a Grammar Fiend pass/fail test

That's because its a stupid test.

HAH I typed 'it's' correctly by habit and had to go back and change it.

Another disagreement with my French Canadian supervisor. Please pick one:

"The odds are against us demonstrating..."

or

"The odds are against us to demonstrate..."

numba one

I don't think the odds are actually against 'us'. They're against our having success in demonstrating something.

the odds against OUR demonstrating

The odds are against us in demonstrating?

Zelda OTM.

From the NYTimes Estelle Getty obit:

In the show, Sophia was the mother of Dorothy Zbornak, played by Bea Arthur who, in real life, was older than Ms. Getty.

Not exactly a copyeditor and grammar fiend question, but: am I wrong to think that the phrase 'in real life' is one of those casual, almost childish, expressions that shouldn't see their way into print?

Iit's certainly redundant there. Was that writer paid by the word?

i don't know, i think it helps keep things clear. but i guess you could shorten it and lose a clause by just writing "who was actually older than ms. getty."

bea > estela

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-typo-guys-0521may21,0,6902266.story

Insufferable douches or fearless crusaders or, y'know, just a bit of harmless fun?

hello.

can it be said of someone that they are effronterous, or temeritous even. if not why not - an man of audacity is audacious, plainly.

thanks in advance.

temericious? no.

Imagine some marketing spiel for a company going on about "our firm, our designers, as we go forward..." for three paras, and then ending "I hope you enjoy our new brochure! (signed) Mr Head Honcho". Is the switch from "we" to "I" ok, or a bit off?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-typo-guys-0521may21,0,6902266.story

Insufferable douches or fearless crusaders or, y'know, just a bit of harmless fun?

I always thought 'typo' as in 'typographical error' referred to genuine finger-slippage or similar when typing e.g. 'teh' instead of 'the' - where you didn't mean to type what you did. Most of the examples given in this story I'd be hard pushed to call typos. Maybe the Millwaukee one seeing as they got it right one time. The rest of them would appear to be actual mistakes, e.g. not understanding how to use apostrophes. But obviously you can't actually tell for sure. Can you make such a distinction between typos and stupid mistakes?

But a grocery store that can't spell grocery [as he encountered in California] makes you question the food they sell.

No, no it doesn't.

(a) That guy in the picture looked to me like Jaymc for a second

(b) I have often dreamed of going around correcting things, actually, although to be honest it's my conviction that I'm not alone in that impulse that's prevented me from thinking it'd be that cool to be a grammar-pedant graffitist

(b.2) And the correcting impulse was usually just a matter of taking the train home from proofreading work and still being in proofreading mindspace and wanting to mark up every ad in the car

i know this is v impt, but could people stop using "schwag" for "swag"? kthxbye.

Is there a thread expressly for whinging about English language transgressions? I'm hissing like a pressure cooker.

When you require an overhead activity to be undertaken, ...

^ Subjunctive mood? Or should I start the sentence again?

WAHT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

Wanky business talk. I think I rewrote it in the end.