and now some from across the pond…

I’m a graphic designer who has been fortunate enough to indulge his passion for aviation through various outlets including publication. Many, many a page has passed under my eye/mouse and across my screen.

I whole-heartedly agree that a) those writing/contibuting should at least put the necessary background reseach into their work, and b) that the publisher should also be responsible (through their editors) for correct content. It is also worthwhile to point out that some would point to excessive editing as leading to infringement on freedom of speech. Fortunately, when dealing with historic, (obviously well-documented background subjects) there is the ability to document and publish in a fairly unfettered manner – so long as the FACTs are adhered to.

My point does not deal with the historical facts of a subject, more the grammatical. While those in the UK have primarily only the Queen’s English to deal with, please pause for a moment and put yourselves in my shoes. I am in Canada… I work in English (and French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and sometimes Russian). Here we have the strange situation of reading, writing and speaking a language which we share with our neighbours, but its NOT the same language (nor is it really the ‘Queen’s English’). Canadian English is based on the ‘Queen’s English’ but has been infiltrated by ‘l’autre langue’ and tortured by linguistic laziness through spell-check.

So, that said, while working through 300 to 700 pages of a book, I proof-read – on-screen and in hard copy – not because it’s my job, but because I care about what is in that book (and we still spell favour, harbour and neighbour with a ‘u’).

The idea that someone, other than the writer and the reader, actually cares about what is being printed is unfortunately Quixotic… the desktop computer has laid waste to the typesetters and editors of the world… we (well, not us) will all live on a diet of Wikimygooglegeohistory and MSenglish

Cheers!… i need a beer after that

James