Now you know why I titled this blog the way I did. Copy editor is always two words, no hyphen. At least I thought so for most of forty years, but it turns out not. Heck, if a copy editor can’t be sure about how to spell his own job title, what does that say...Continue reading
A Mile Long
The average book is a tenth of an inch high and half a mile long. Lines on a page are no more than a convenience, a way to save readers the walk. Also, there is nothing more linear than human language, which only flows one way. I will have a lot more to say about...Continue reading
That or Which?
I said I would not have much to say about the mechanics of copyediting – there will be some — but I’ll start off with this exception, because when you tell people you are a copyeditor, it tends to come up early. “So you know the difference between that and which?” “In fact, I do,”...Continue reading