My editing pet peeve - what's yours?

Yeah, playthrough, I'm with Piotr. It's not like I say to the waitress "Hey, you work for a dummy who thinks crepe is spelled crape!"

But I reworked my brother's resume when I was home. I correct my mom on stuff. I wouldn't want them being snickered at by others who would then think they were better than those I care about.

 

Piling on here, too, play.

The English language has taken a hell of a hit since the advent of instant messaging. Any small part I can contribute to rectifying the situation, I'm going to do it.

 

U r gr8, shot.

 

And the point is that we don't correct those people. We do, I think, comment on it to those with us.

But it's not like I stop at the car place and tell them they're idiots.

 

Lord knows copy editors have saved my butt on many occasions. But it goes both ways.

Nothing is more irritating than asking a copy editor why he or she chose to change or reword something and hear: "That's just a pet peeve of mine."

So then don't use it in your copy. Leave mine alone.

My problem with copy-editing in general is that they all have their individual "pet peeves." Some don't -- opps ... -- do not like contractions. (Meanwhile, we'll run an AP story with contractions throughout on the same freaking page.) Others won't let you use "while," because "and" works just as as well ... and it's two characters shorter!

I rarely if ever object because I dont want to be one of those writers, but I shake my head every so often just wondering "Why?"

 

And some, Bob, won't let you use "while" when what you mean is "and." Two very different meanings.

 

Give Bob some props for originality, though. Usually it's "while" and "though" that are mixed up.

 

Not sure if it's been said yet, but I can't stand it when a person is referred to as "that" instead of "who." Drives me friggin' nuts.

 

I would argue "Bungles" has, for many years, been accurate. ;D

 

While at the NCAA tournament the past couple of days, one of the schools had a couple writers there from the school paper. They left a copy two seats away, so I picked it up to check it out. Below a mugshot read "Courtesy of StateUwebsite.com's media relations site."

 

My editing pet peeve is being edited.


(Someone had to stick up the wirters writers.)