Category: Copy Editing

I will quote myself: “I will have a lot more to say about that when I get to discussing syntax.” Now try this: “A about discussing get have I I lot more say syntax that to to when will.” That sentence uses all the same words as in the previous sentence I wrote, and it...Continue reading

I’m sure that every trade generates its war stories. Bakers have them, lawyers do, chefs do, sailors do, tuba players … jockeys … copyeditors. Moments when the job goes bad, suddenly or not, God help you, and a simple enough task goes irreversibly sideways. It could be for any reason, as long as it’s unexpected....Continue reading

A cousin had arranged a temp job for me at a textbook house. That meant first meeting the woman I’d be working under, who would not be my cousin. It was 41 years ago now, so forgive me for forgetting her name. I walked into an office in one of Toronto’s inner suburbs, in a...Continue reading

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