My editing pet peeve - what's yours?

I like "trey" a hell of a lot better than "3".

Joe Smith hit five 3s. Ugh.

Joe Smith hit five shots from 3-point range. Better.

 

It's inaugural. And it's not a difficult freaking word!

 

But if it's 30 seconds to deadline and the story still needs to be trimmed one more line . . . I will go with "Joe Smith hit five 3s" (or five 3-pointers) in a heartbeat.

 

My short list:

* People who capitalize titles when they stand alone, i.e. (the university President said he wants to require all incoming freshmen to submit to a GY exam.)
* Over/more than
* Whilst. This is a newspaper, not British novelism. While, not whilst. I see that again, I'm coming at you with a pica pole in one hand and a style guide in the other.

 

Me too. Can't imagine stopping with one space, it's just too deeply embedded. Sorry. Same with ellipses, altho I usually save those for email and SJ.

This thread is why I could never be an editor...how do so many bad/careless writers get hired in the first place? How many times can you edit the same stupid mistake before you just want to punch someone in the face?

I have great respect for anyone who has the patience to turn tone-deaf prose into music.

 

Three things.

First, mixing up "freshman" and "freshmen." And it bothers me because there's just NO reason for it. It's absolutely sensible when you use which.

Second, a "second-straight" victory or "fourth-consecutive" championship. No hyphen ... no hyphen ... no hyphen. This seems to be a favorite of college sports information departments. Now, we know it's wrong ... somebody quote me the rule that I can tell the offending writer.

Finally, the lack of commas in a lot of copy. I've seen in recent years that people avoid using commas to clarify pauses in sentences. They are needed.

 

Our stories go through a lot of eyes, and it's annoying at the end of the line when the first reference is left off a coach/player/official.
Also, when our style might differ from AP, writers in the same story mix it up.

 

"Consecutive championship" is the noun phrase, and it's modified by the "fourth."

A corollary inspired by lunchtime: You wouldn't, or shouldn't, hyphenate grilled cheese sandwich. It's not a sandwich made with grilled cheese. It's a cheese sandwich that's grilled.

 

May vs. might. There is a distinction.

And ellipses. Is your thought so important that it deserves to trail on endlessly?

 

No, no and no. You're killing me. There's absolutely no reason to hyphenate that as a modifier. (The reason for the reaction is I have spent a long time trying to break people of this. Nothing personal.)

I thought I'd have to think long and hard about my pet peeve, but I don't. It's not even close.

"prior to" instead of "before." Drives me insane. I used to fine people a quarter for it, now I just sigh and change it.

I actually still get confused with farther/further not because the AP definition isn't fairly clear, but because I can't decide if a construction like, "North Carolina figures to face Georgetown farther down the road" should be that way, because it's a metaphor for actual physical distance ... or not. To me, "further" sounds better there.

 

No, you're right, that's my mistake. I typed that sentence, spent about 10 minutes thinking about it, decided it was wrong to hyphenate and then left it in the post. You can even see the thought process beginning as I never closed the quote. I have no idea why I neglected to remove it.

 

Glad I'm not the only one that has problems with something similiar.

I always get then/than confused (Hi Moddy!)



Since we're all English people here, do you point out errors/mis-spellings in signs, menus, etc. in your everyday non-work life?
And do your significant others hate you for it?