They need copy editors to keep them from making mistakes like this one:
Oof! A simple typo. But an embarrassing one. Thanks to Susan Schrock of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for posting this one today on Facebook.
You know who else needs copy editors? College athletic department ticket offices. And road paving contractors. And restaurants. And cake decorators. And baseball jersey manufacturers. And T-shirt designers. And Time magazine.
Charles Apple is a freelance visual journalist and instructor. A longtime news artist and designer, he is the former graphics director of the Virginian-Pilot and the Des Moines Register. He teaches design and graphics workshops and seminars and spends way too much time online. Read more ...
The opinions and views expressed are those of Charles Apple and commenters and do not necessarily state or reflect the views of the American Copy Editors Society, its members, sponsors or affiliated groups.
A terrible typo but it still makes perfect sense :)
Haha.
Eh, all world leaders aren’t perfect.
And newspapers.
And Phillip Blanchard pins on the tail this time. That’s getting to be a regular occurrence.
The copy editors at Forbes enjoyed this very much.
You can help copy editors by reading their humorous blogs, such as this one, entitled:
Having A Mel Gibson-Sized Techno Tantrum? Use The Correct Terminology
It’s viewable at:
http://blogs.forbes.com/craigsilver/
Many esteemed publications besides Time seem to have concluded that copy editing is an optional activity in the blogging era. I’ve seen some incredible errors in The New York Times over the past few months, even on page one stories (print edition as well as online).
Nice catch! Copy editing is becoming a lost art in this world of 24 hour instant news. The other examples you posted are worse, because they can’t use the “breaking news” excuse!
That trend started before the blogging era. As soon as newspapers decided copy desks were the dumping ground for every possible task, the race to the bottom began.
I think it’s perfectly rational for news agencies to cut copy desks in the blogging era. Why pay someone to edit before publication when the same person will do it for free in the comments section after publication?
It goes beyond copy. Language has gone to the dogs. For every “he and I” did this or that, you’ll hear a dozen “me and him” did it. Don’t know the difference? You’d do well to check out “Me and Him Are Killing English!” — my little self-published rant — and improve your chances for social and business success. Aloha…..
Sign makers need copy editors, too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenztom/55615328/
This is just a simple typo error. Come to Malaysia and you’ll laugh yourself to a coma! =D
In typo veritas.
Here is my own contribution, found at the local Home Depot. http://sprocketsinside.blogspot.com/2010/07/orange-demons-and-vice-grips.html A letter to the CEO got only ignorant responses from a customer service drone, but one month later the sign has been removed.
Bloggers are in desperate need of copy editors or proofreaders at the very least. I see many glaringly obvious grammatical, usage and punctuation errors in almost every blog post I read.
There are exceptional blogs from people like Anne Handley (@MarketingProfs), Chris Brogan (@ChrisBrogan) or Julie Roads (@writingroads). They know that bad English distracts from their subject, undermines their purpose and tarnishes their credibility.
Writing correct English is a skill, not a talent. Anyone can learn it and with practice it becomes second nature. It’s mostly just caring about being correct. You have to care enough to take a few seconds to look up a word or rule. At the very least have a friend who is skilled look over your copy before hitting the Publish button.
If only those who could hire a copy editor agreed, I’d have a job!