Is copy editing a lost art?

[Scooter]

[Burning Petard]

Not a LOST art, just a neglected one. This seems to me that one copy editor prepared the material before it was complete herey and even herey, but no body went back and added the subheads. This is the modern world where the spelling, acronyms, symbols are somewhat arbitrary. Maybe we have even achieved that degree of creativity that I believe Mark Twain alluded to when he said "it is a small mind that can only spell a word one way." But that attribution is very weak. (or is it 'week'?)

snailgate

[Bicycle Bill]

Disney's Davy Crockett had a song that said, "Be sure you're right, then go ahead."  Carpenters have a saying — "Measure twice, cut once."  Even back in school math class, you had to "show your work".  What it all boils down to is always look for the hidden flaw or the error that got missed on the first go-around.

I blame it on the rise of electronic reporting, starting 'way back with the days of the early electric typewriters with the primitive versions of 'Spellcheck'.  And as the 'Artificial Intelligence' of the machines increased, the 'Natural Intelligence' of the typical user took a nosedive.  Meanwhile, of course, the publishers, always trying to save money, let the copy writers and proof readers go under the assumption that the field reporter would come back, write up and submit their article through the computer, the computer would correct the bugs and errors, and whatever came out the other end was good to go.  And that is why we end up with stuff like this, even today.

That's why it's even more amazing we were able to go from sub-orbital space flight to sending men on the moon — and successfully bringing them back, not just once but six times (seven if you count Apollo 13), using machines that, just like the B-29 bomber in WWII, were designed and built using machine-shop technology by people working with pencils, paper, and slide rules – in less than ten years.  Sometimes the old ways are still the better way.

-"BB"-

[ex-khobar Andy]

From the Wright brothers to the first man in space was 58 years. We are now 60 years on from Yuri Gagarin.

[Big RR]

Bill--I think that same thing has happened in many areas; during most of my career I always had a secretary/admin who I could rely on to draft documents and format them correctly, either from dictation (usually dictaphone) or handwritten papers. Even when computers became something on most desks, I would rely on my secretary to put together the first draft, which I could then revise and edit on my own and ultimately have her properly format the final document. I never really learned to be an accurate typist (as my posts here well demonstrate), but working as a team was a good way to get quality in the documents produce. Sadly, they have all but disappeared from the workplace (or they have been required to support a large number of people, changing the duties considerably, and another fairly well-paying (some of our legal secretaries made more than first year associates when overtime was factored in) job was lost).

[Gob]

One of my joys is proof reading the Hatch's writings. First it was her homework, then degree work, now MSc work. I cannot claim to be as erudite or versed in grammar and writing as a copy writer, but there is a deep joy for me in helping her by correcting her written works.

(If only I could get he to use "which" instead of her constant use of "that"!)

[MajGenl.Meade]

(If only I could get he to use "which" instead of her constant use of "that"!)

he?

[Gob]

Exactly!
As I say, I'm no expert.

[Big RR]

ot to mention that it's easier to review/edit someone else's work than your own. At least it is for me.

[BoSoxGal]

Copy editing and editing are two very different things; presumably nobody here is confused about the two.

[Sue U]

I have worked as a type shop proofreader, a newspaper copy editor and a news reporter, and these kinds of screw-ups happened with a fair amount of regularity back in the good ol' days, too. Anytime you have humans involved in a production process, there will be mistakes. The good thing about errors in newspapers is that hardly anyone ever dies as a result (although some may die from embarrassment while others die from laughing).

[MajGenl.Meade]

ot to mention that it's easier to review/edit someone else's work than your own. At least it is for me.

Obvs

[Big RR]

You caught that?

My hat is off to you (but then, I rarely wear hats).

[Jarlaxle]

As a D&D player, I'm used to poorly-proofread things. (TSR's budget was thin, proofreading was spotty at best.) Having said that, the number of typos I have seen in some recent novels is a little jarring.

[Bicycle Bill]

The typos may also be a result of voice-to-text software. which ties in to that "let the AI handle it" mentality again.  Rather than typing something (or God forbid, actually writing it with a pen!!) you dictate it, but the software 'hears' it as something a little different, and puts down what it 'thinks' it 'heard'.

And at that point the GIGO principal takes over.

-"BB"-