I’ve recently seen several mistakes involving the wrong word used in place of another that sounds identical, but is spelled differently and carries a vastly different meaning. An Indianapolis Star article about flooding had a caption that began “Storms dye down …” The writer meant to say “die down,” as in taper away, not “dye … Read more
Maybe you think that those of us who call attention to typos and similar mistakes are being pedantic, or anal-retentive, just plain picky. If the meaning is conveyed, who cares about whether the words are spelled right or sentences are properly structured? Nobody, if it’s a comment about your Saturday night outing at the local … Read more
Election coverage is fast-paced. I get that. But there’s always time to double-check what you’ve written. Unfortunately, many in the national media have been sloppier than normal this year. What’s particularly disturbing to me is when I see wrong words in Associated Press stories, given that the AP once set the standard for excellence. … Read more
If I had one wish for the media, it would be to restore the long-lost position of copy editors — the unseen wizards who made reporters look smarter than they really were and could craft the pithiest of headlines. Had a copy editor been at the desk, Matthew Tully’s July 3 Indianapolis Star column wouldn’t … Read more
Here’s a handy trick for proofreading more effectively that I learned years ago from a boss: read what you’re proofing backwards. Start at the end, and read it word-for-word in the wrong direction. I’m completely serious, and it’s one of the most effective ways I’ve found — especially when I’m proofing something I wrote. That’s … Read more
I miss the days when newspapers and other media wouldn’t publish a story until it had been edited and edited again. Sadly, expediency has supplanted accuracy, and shrinking budgets have eliminated the copy editors who dispatched typos and other errors from their writers’ dispatches. These days, the only thing protecting writers from themselves is their … Read more
As you’d expect, the Indiana School Boards Association is an advocate for schools, so it’s no surprise that the Summer 2015 issue of their Journal included an exhortation from the group’s president to get members fired up. But you’ll probably be surprised that she was calling for the group to “lead the fight for pubic … Read more
One of the most commonly misused word pairs is flare/flair, but it was distressing to see the Indianapolis Star make that mistake in a recent headline. The item was a brief review of a restaurant that serves Latin American cuisine, and the headline read “Brunch with Latin flare”. I assume they meant that the food … Read more
Are typos a big deal? True typographical errors, misspellings, incorrect homonyms and the like all get lumped together under the rubric of “typos” these days. Many people seem to accept them the way we’ve come to accept a certain percentage of rodent parts in the processed food we buy. (You do realize that the government … Read more
“Will instant replay settle baseball’s furries?” That was the headline on an online story in the Hendricks County Flyer. I didn’t read the story, so I’m not sure whether it was a discussion of arguments between mascots or just a misspelling of “furies.” I’m also not sure if someone stumbled onto a miracle … Read more