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[Hemlock]

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I just found a proofreading error in a magazine, which referred to a 'chicken coup'.

Damned dangerous things, chickens.

 

[RGC]

That would have driven me nuts. Afraid I get intolerant re disrespect to the language. It’s not difficult to get it right - misspellings, lazy grammar and punctuation have caused candidates for positions to fall at the first fence. Such a shame. Apart from that life is good. The sun came out earlier but I thought it was a U.F.O and reported it to the police.

 

[JudyN]

I just found a proofreading error in a magazine, which referred to a 'chicken coup'.

Damned dangerous things, chickens.

You've seen The Birds?

My favourite typo that I've come across in my 'professional' life is a book on career guidance, where one of the jobs listed was 'pubic health inspector'. The best bit was that this was a second edition and the error was in the first edition....

 

[RGC]

You've seen The Birds?

My favourite typo that I've come across in my 'professional' life is a book on career guidance, where one of the jobs listed was 'pubic health inspector'. The best bit was that this was a second edition and the error was in the first edition....

Many say that it’s not important to get it 100% correct but you’ve just demonstrated the danger of such blunders. In my school magazine I was aghast at seeing former resident students referred to as “borders”. And this is a public school where there’s quite a waiting list.

 

[JudyN]

Actually, thinking back, it might have been 'pubic relations officer' or similar, which is even better/worse depending on your point of view.

I worked on a couple of books with aptitude tests for the same publisher - one might have been in the same book as mentioned above, but being a sucker for IQ/aptitude tests, I did them all (in my own time as this was above & beyond), and the number of errors in the solutions was scary.

 

[Hemlock]

Once upon a time, even the tackiest tabloids would have immaculate English. Nowadays they use computer systems to proofread instead of the Mark 1 Eyeball, and the errors make you shudder. There is a lot of "I was sat" and "he was stood", even in newspapers whose staff you'd think would know better.

JudyN, that is surely the last betrayal with the aptitude tests.

 

[JudyN]

Yup, that was a bad one, Hemlock. And I still get asked occasionally if my job will eventually be taken over by spellcheckers, etc.! Apart from the difference in meaning between 'bear with me' and 'bare with me', there's the dangers of poorly placed punctuation. Compare 'autistic people who are of low intelligence will need support with...' and 'autistic people, who are of low intelligence, will need support with...' Yet so many people don't seem to have a good grasp of punctuation nowadays.

 

[RGC]

How wonderful to be in communication with like minded people. It’s unfortunate that one gets the accusation of a “better than thou” attitude when correcting poor grammar and/or punctuation. I must admit I haven’t come across the abundance of apostrophes that used to haunt us on public notices.

 

[JudyN]

It does all depend on context, though. People should be able to communicate on forums and other social media without worrying about spelling, punctuation, etc., or even just worry that someone is going to judge them on it. Understanding is key, and that's all that matters.

I've worked on books written by people who didn't have the technical writing skills but can tell a darn good story, and people who have neurological differences that mean their writing and the structure of their books can be rather chaotic. That's fine - they have their skills, and I have mine, so it's a team effort

 

[RGC]

Point taken, JudyN. I will now get back to my Latin homework and desist from further comments re the English language. Hemlock, I have enjoyed the discussion. Is anyone au fait with forming the present and imperfect subjunctive of ‘discere’? I’m stuck.

 

[Hemlock]

I don't mind spoken English being incorrect, or the English on forums (as long as I can understand it) but IMO published work should be flawless unless quotation. It's also a courtesy to people who are not native English speakers.

RGC - sorry - I never learned Latin. Wish I had. I bet someone on here knows, though.

 

[JudyN]

I got as far as O level in Latin, but have forgotten most of what I knew. Much preferred it to French, though - I didn't have to worry about the accent, for starters!

Yes, published books should be error free (or as much as possible). Though what might be regarded as an error in an academic book could be fine if it was important to retain the 'voice' of the author, so it feels as if they're 'talking' to you in the way they would talk to a mate.

I do hate it when I buy a book and realise too late that it's self-published and the closest it's come to an editor is the writer's best mate. And even books published by reputable publishing houses seem to have far more errors than they used to.

 

[Finsky]

Finsky, thank goodness you have the option of the farm vets, who are much more used to animals being animals. All the best with the consultation.

We've been and seen 'them'...and the verdict of Eva's issue was different indeed. It wasn't the ligaments but this vet said that it is the knee joint bowl that is not big enough for the ball so it is not sitting deeply enough for being stable. Which makes sense as she has never been strong that strong jumper...and when being pup and light weight...it haven't shown until now that she is in her adult weight.
So now we need ex rays sorted to see if there is urgent need to anything about it or if it is something to sort out later on. I've now ordered some foot stools as steps to help her to get up on her usual sleeping spots on settee and arm chair. Otherwise she is allowed to carry on in almost normal way with walks...we just have to avoid all the extreme things like steep up hills and pulling and jumping and standing on back legs and fast running and and.. But if she is going under knife, it is going to be bone grinding operation...or a new joint bowl so it ain't gonna be cheap operation which ever way it goes. The main thing is that Eva is not in pain and she is happy and able to go her walks and if she is not allowed to aim upwards, at least she can go downwards And that is good news for our 'badger'

 

[Finsky]

You've seen The Birds?

My favourite typo that I've come across in my 'professional' life is a book on career guidance, where one of the jobs listed was 'pubic health inspector'. The best bit was that this was a second edition and the error was in the first edition....

Err...in other words, wouldn't that been career as gynecologist? At least 'pubic health inspector' is easier to say...

 

[excuseme]

Oh blimey ! I often wonder about my punctuation marks and if the words that I use are correct or not. I like to think that most of the time I am correct, but would not be offended if ever corrected.

 

[JudyN]

You write however it comes out of the end of your fingers, @excuseme! We're here to chat and to discuss dogs, and that's all that matters. Life is too short to check everything we write, and I think it's the height of ignorance for people to correct someone's spelling/grammar & punctuation without being asked.

I'm totally cheesed off with this weather. And when I do get a chance to get out into the garden, Jasper insists on coming out to play, which mostly involves me throwing tennis balls at him which he'll only bother catching if he doesn't have to move... and as he doesn't release the last ball until I've thrown the next one, and his coordination isn't what it was, it's less 'catchy ball' and more 'droppy ball'. Then he decides he's bored with being outside, so he wants to go in, but he doesn't want to be in if I'm in the garden, so cue lots of whining and disturbing Mr N's attempts to work. And I'm not allowed to leave the back door open because Mr N works in a cold room and that makes it even colder.... Roll on summer!!

 

[Hemlock]

I'd like to stress that I don't criticise the grammar/punctuation of anyone on any message board like this - I only get annoyed by professionals producing slovenly written work for which others pay. Please don't anyone here ever feel concerned about how to write whatever you want to write. Boards are "conversations" and therefore contributions can be whatever we want them to be.

 

[Hemlock]

There is a big National Trust woodland near me that is very popular with dog walkers. This morning I met a lady who had 4 dogs with her - ones we normally see with her husband. There was a cat as well. Yes, a CAT. My dog is trained to not chase cats, but most of the dogs we meet aren't trained at all.

I hope the poor cat made it home okay.

 

[JudyN]

Yeek, Hemlock - at least cats can climb trees, but even so... Jasper's pretty good with cats he spots when on lead (as long as we move on fairly quickly), but I don't know how you'd even train for unknown cats in off-lead places, given the lack of opportunity.

 

[JoanneF]

Somebody had ferrets on our local beach earlier in the year. Luckily I saw them before T did and got him on lead.