Yes, Copy Editors Are Important!
June 05, 2012
I saws this entry in DC Blogs -- a man after my own heart; thank you, Jon Lowder -- and decided to post some of the mistakes I've spotted recently in the Washington Post and the Post Express.
The Simple Typo
First, a simple typo that probably could have been caught by an automated spellchecker. So if the writer didn't use one, shame on him/her! Can you spot it?
Math Is Hard
Please, do your research. Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, which means that she has reigned for 60 years.
So she became queen in 1942? Even if you didn't know exactly when she acceded to the throne, simple subtraction gets you to the right answer. (If that's too difficult, there's always Wikipedia.) She acceded to the throne in 1952, not 1942.
Damn You, Autocorrect!
Because "stirring" is spelled correctly in this example, I am going to take a wild guess and say that this looks more like an Autocorrect error. The word should be "Steering" -- this is a car review, not a recipe. Sometimes it pays to go with manual correct, kids.
The Unintentional Penis Reference
Ah, the Sports section! To be fair, this is not a typo or error of fact. It is, however... well, let's just have a look.
It's a twofer -- Johnson AND Wang!
(And I am, at heart, a pre-teen boy.)