skzbrust ([info]skzbrust) wrote,
@ 2007-10-22 23:47:00
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When good copy editors go bad, or good, or something
Teresa is going to love this one.  Chica found it.  For starters (if I can get through this without a mistake it'll be a miracle), I'm going to quote one of my favorite Rex Stout passages.  This is from, "Method Three for Murder:"

    "I demand an explanation.  I intend to hold you to account for alienating the affection of my wife."
    "Affections," Wolfe said.
    "What?"
    "Affections.  In that context the plural is used."  He lifted the glass and drank, and licked his lips.
    Kearns stared at him.  "I didn't come here," he said, "to have my grammar corrected."
    "Not grammar.  Diction."

Now, I love that.  But what makes it even better (in a sick way) is that, in my copy (Three at Wolfe's Door, Bantam Books, 4th printing, May 1978), the first occurrence of "affection" is actually "affections," which destroys the joke.  What happened should be obvious.  A diligent copy editor saw the term, paying no attention to the substance of the conversation, and corrected it, thus destroying it.

Got to love it!

    

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[info]autopope
2007-10-23 08:59 am UTC (link)
<snark>I think you missed out the word "to" in that first quoted sentence.</snark>

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[info]jophan
2007-10-23 10:30 am UTC (link)
Darn, you beat me to it.

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[info]aethereal_girl
2007-10-23 11:01 am UTC (link)
Either that or "-able."

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[info]jophan
2007-10-23 11:13 am UTC (link)
Technically yes, but less likely typo from [info]skzbrust than omitting a "to".

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[info]pgranzeau
2007-10-23 01:24 pm UTC (link)
It's Hell that you can't edit what you have posted in LJ.

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[info]artslave
2007-10-23 03:34 pm UTC (link)
Sure you can -- there's a little pencil icon above your own posts. Or the word "edit" below the post, or somewhere else around, depending on your theme.

However, it IS Hell that you can't edit your comments (although I understand the reasons for it, you inevitably see a typo in a comment just as you click post....)


((proofreading carefully....clicking post))

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[info]sethb
2007-10-23 04:20 pm UTC (link)
If you're fast enough, you can delete your post and re-post it after correction. (The people who have subscribed get the email of both versions, but everyone else just sees the new one.)

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[info]skzbrust
2007-10-23 05:06 pm UTC (link)
Fixed. Thank you.

You can edit the post, just not comments.

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[info]schmwarf
2007-10-23 10:27 am UTC (link)
I remember the business section of our local paper did a number of articles about the ever expanding iron ore industry. Every now and then an article would have a photo associated with it showing a stockpile, machinery, etc. But the funny part would be that the photo would have a caption starting with "Awesome.." I was 99.9% sure the journalist implied "Ore-some" but the editorial staff would correct it.

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[info]rbradakis
2007-10-23 01:52 pm UTC (link)
That sort of dialogue is why I read every Nero Wolfe story I could lay my hands upon.

"When bad copy editors accidentally go good."?

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[info]adina_atl
2007-10-23 02:16 pm UTC (link)
Strange syncronicity: I just read that same book for the first time last week, and noticed the same "corrected into nonsense" bit of dialogue. I'm tempted to take white-out to the first affections.

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[info]carbonel
2007-10-23 03:51 pm UTC (link)
My favorite one is from one of Joel Rosenberg's books. I was doing a proofing pass on the galleys of an omnibus reprint, when I came across someone being introduced to someone else, and the text said, "He blew over her hands."

No this purely made no sense, and luckily I had the original paperbacks to check against. The original version was "He blowed over her hands." Some helpful copyeditor had made the new version grammatical but nonsensical.

I was quite pleased to be able to correct it to "He bowed over her hands."

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[info]skzbrust
2007-10-23 05:09 pm UTC (link)
Hee hee. See you next week for another exciting episode of "Copy editor detective!"


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[info]stickyboy
2007-10-23 04:04 pm UTC (link)
Nero > *

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[info]trebor1415
2007-10-23 05:06 pm UTC (link)
You ever read Pier's Anthony's "But what of Earth?" The copy editing was sooo bad that he ran the edits next to the original text and added notes on what he thought of the edits.

The subtitle was "A good novel turned into a bad example."

http://www.piers-anthony.com/whatearth.html

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[info]alanajoli
2007-10-23 06:28 pm UTC (link)
That's brilliant. I must see if the library has a copy...

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[info]minnehaha
2007-10-23 06:56 pm UTC (link)
A diligent copy editor saw the term[...]

You misspelled "bad."

K.

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[info]docstrange
2007-10-23 11:23 pm UTC (link)
I don't understand the practice of correcting the grammar of characters' quoted speech. I guess that editor would have had quite the time with Mr. Twain's work.

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[info]szvan
2007-10-24 01:46 am UTC (link)
For what it's worth, the 1995 reissue has a new introduction, but the same problem.

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[info]merovingian58
2007-10-24 05:50 am UTC (link)
I used to be married to an English teacher. When I read the story, I nearly went into convulsions. She used to correct me in the same manner... But thank the Demon Goddess for ex-wives, right?!

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Agreement?
[info]libertango
2007-10-25 05:10 am UTC (link)
"A diligent copy editor saw the term, paying no attention to the substance of the conversation..."

"Paid," I think.

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Re: Agreement?
[info]skzbrust
2007-10-25 05:28 am UTC (link)
Stet

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Re: Agreement?
[info]libertango
2007-10-25 05:32 am UTC (link)
Hokay fine.

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Re: Agreement?
[info]pecunium
2007-11-15 11:56 pm UTC (link)
I'm with Steve, it was an ongoing action in the past.

TK

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[info]karl_lembke
2007-10-25 08:04 pm UTC (link)
In another situation, I was reading an Asterix and Obelix comic book, "Asterix Und Obelix bei den Olympische Spielen".

At one point, the pair run into a very big, very burly Roman legionnaire named Musculus. Without exception, the translator diligently translated any Latin words or phrases into German in a footnote.

Thus, Musculus had an asterisk next to his name, and in the footnote, we learn that musculus is Latin for "mausschen" (little mouse).

I wonder how many German readers understood why a half-ton of muscle would be given a name like "little mouse".

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[info]timill
2007-11-12 10:54 pm UTC (link)
Curiously, it is correct (and uncorrected) in my Bantam 2nd printing (1968).

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