Number of words: 123 “I have a friend who was a newspaper proofreader,” it began. “Each knight, he wood read a pre-edition copy to correct errors.” The point is of course that spell-checkers can’t recognize the context of a word. “Knight” is spelled correctly, but it has no place in a sentence about nocturnal activities, … Read more

Number of words: 241 SCHLESINGER WAS THE PRODUCER and narrator of Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu, a documentary made about the last night of “hot type” typesetting at the Times. He also composed a poem and song of the same name. The film is a snapshot of July 2, 1978, the very day when computers killed off … Read more

Number of words: 225 The proofreading room was home to its own soundscape. One of the main responsibilities of a proofreader was to ensure that the type version of a story matched the original copy written and edited by the news team. Proofreaders checked grammar, spelling, and facts and ensured that the spacing and hyphenation … Read more

Number of words: 46 In a March 2 “Culturebox ,” Timothy Noah described the words humbug, poppycock, tommyrot, hooey, twaddle, balderdash, claptrap, palaver, hogwash, buncombe (or “bunk”), hokum, drivel, flapdoodle, and bullpucky as adjectives. In fact, they are nouns.  -Slate Excerpted from page 255 of ‘Regret the Error’ by Craig Silverman

Number of words: 38 WE REFERRED TO THE £250,000 advance for Vikram Seth’s prize-winning novel, “A Suitable Buy.” Although undoubtedly worth every penny, the book is actually called “A Suitable Boy.”  Excerpted from page 244 of ‘Regret the Error’ by Craig Silverman

Number of words: 109 Unfortunately, too many papers merely “scrub” the text of the article to eliminate the incorrect information, never advising the reader of the error or the correction. Scrubbing is troublesome practice because it goes against the ethic of correction: The error is never acknowledged. Scrubbing is, in effect, a cover-up. It’s unprincipled … Read more

Number of words: 446 Nobel is not the only prominent figure whose premature death report precipitated a reaction of historical proportions. In early June of 1897, Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was hiding away in London, still mourning the death of his eldest daughter, Susy, and working to make a dent in his … Read more

Number of words: 156 Today’s media puts a premium on the timely distribution of a well prepared obituary. To make this possible, news organizations archive (“can”) obituary files for use when someone notable passes on; they may even keep them current. A January 2006 report by Editor & Publisher said that the Associated Press alone … Read more

Number of words: 96 IN AN ARTICLE IS IT OK… to drink cow’s milk? (Ethical living,page 26, G2, June 6), two mistakes were introduced in the editing. Comments which were made by an unnamed former dairy worker, whose mother runs an animal sanctuary, were mistakenly attributed to Gordon Tweddle for which we apologise. We also … Read more

Number of words: 69 The Nov. 10 Broadsheet item “He or she?” indicated that two percent of every 1000 babies are born with ambiguous genitalia. This description was both confusing and incorrect. In fact, while it’s difficult to determine precisely how common intersexuality is, estimates range from one in 2,000 births to one in 4.500 … Read more