How many times can I use the word "subs"?
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| These are my best friends right now. |
So, yeah, a fun week...
On the bright side, what with lying around on the couch most of Tuesday and Wednesday and today, I've gotten a lot of (non-Facebook) reading done. My brain had felt as though it were getting too thin, what with the steady Internet diet I feed it, so I procured 2 intelligent, non-fiction books (complete with paragraphs of more than 3 sentences apiece) and have been forcing myself to read them. One of the books (Just Mercy) is by a lawyer who has dedicated his career to defending death-row prisoners in the South.
Let us note here that, apparently, some people do worthwhile things with their lives. I'm guessing this guy wouldn't regard cleaning up the house for Bunko as the mark of a super-productive day.
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| This gentleman is a much better human being than moi. |
The other book (Power, Faith, and Fantasy) is a history of America's involvement with the Middle East, all the way back to 1776. (Spoiler alert: NOTHING has changed.) I saw Theo reading it when he was home and realized he was getting way smarter than me; so I went to the library and got myself a copy.
Tell me: have books from major publishers always had numerous mistakes (punctuation, word usage, etc) in them? Or are editors just a dying breed these days?
When I'm finished with Just Mercy, I will sponsor a giveaway, in case any of you also feel the need to shore up the ol' brain cells a bit. It really is a good book, even if it does make me realize I am a pathetic loser with no meaningful goals in life. I mean, self-knowledge is healthy, right?
I saw an advertisement for that book somewhere, perhaps a church website (PCUSA or United Methodists or something like that) and it looked interesting. Your blog post makes me want to read it.
ReplyDeleteI suspect editors rely too much upon spell check these days.
Editing is, I'm afraid, on the way out. English teachers don't know the fundamentals of English grammar & composition so can't teach it; spell check has overtaken the dictionary; people read phonetically and spell the same way... In short, it's a hot mess.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm bothered to read on the kindle I'm constantly sending in spelling errors and occasionally ask why this is happening when that happened some time back in the book so the current action couldn't have happened. Just call me a frustrated editor.
I get that mistakes happen - but OMG am I so tired to the slacker English that people think is ok today. One of the local radio stations is doing some kind of promotion where they give you a word to text in when you hear whatever song and you could win. Not bad. Until they give the word "the" or "window" and then proceed to SPELL THE WORD OUT TO THE LISTENERS....my assumption is because people are becoming too stupid to spell anymore. So why would they need grammar, syntax or punctuation?
ReplyDeleteOh...and I'm sorry that you are still sick. Hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteI feel like editing is a cost-cutting corner publishers now rely on, a pity. I notice more and more errors in books I read and it makes me sad.
ReplyDeleteDon't you feel smart reading nonfiction? I always do.
Can I just say, OH MY LORDY that book by Oren is 864 pages. That's a lotta non-fiction. But I do love reading non-fiction. And yes, editing has fallen by the wayside. I've noticed it in newer books.
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