Who needs copy editors?

There should be a law against reading while segwaying. You could kill somebody.

 

Should Segwaying be capped?

I once knew an editor who capitalized "He" when used in reference to God, even though that's explicitly not AP style. She was very religious and thought it should be capped.

 

The plural of son of a bitch is sons of bitches. Ergo, SOBs is correct.

Unless, of course, you're referring to a group of brothers. But I don't think you'd want to abbreviate that and lose the uniqueness of the epithet sons of a bitch.

 

I capitalized "he" in relation to God in a story I wrote. Oops.

 

I've never taken issue with a writer who doesn't know every minor style or even some major style. It's sloppy, sure, but it's the reason I have a job. I don't mind the occasional typo or misspelled name or statistical error because I'm paid to check those things. And writers with spotless grammar are don't exist. That's not to say I won't get frustrated with an awful story riddled with errors, particularly on deadline. Still, who would need copy editors if writers were perfect?

But I have no tolerance at all for someone who knowingly ignores rules, even if the rule is something as small as RBI/RBIs.

 

I don't mind the NHL writer not knowing the style on baseball if he gets called to sub on it for a game, although a five-minute refresher would solve the problem. What I don't get is a veteran BB writer, for example, writing centerfielder, lefthander, RBIs, minor leaguer when your style is the opposite.

We have our own sports style guide, bunch of exceptions to AP. Kind of senseless to go to all that trouble if the desk has the only people who use it.

You can learn the entire newsroom stylebook in about a month, taking two or three alphabetical chapters a day. Learning the style for one sport takes five minutes.

 

Writers don't give a shit about style anymore. It is very difficult to read our website because I'm mentally editing every story and it drives me crazy.

 

We have a writer who consistently misspells names, or even makes up names — combining the first name of one player with the last name of another, for example. That's bad enough, but what's infuriating is he laughs it off whenever it's brought up.

 

I still have to look everything up, all the time, Frank.

 

I think reporters want to use the right style.

But if the copy desk is four states away ...

 

Which has what to do with it?

Reporters should know their papers' styles. I'd go ballistic on MacDaddy's colleague. Screwing up on purpose is nothing to laugh at.