Sunday, May 29, 2011

A recent letter to management about the sub-editing. . .

I think this speaks for itself. Sort of. . . -- AD


Hi ------

I know it seems like a minor thing, but the editing of the column continues to appal.

This morning we have an example of an erroneously inserted comma destroying the meaning of an entire paragraph.

I wrote of Tom Clancy's use of "weapons porn" -- that is, his tendency to drool over the technical details of heavy weapons, their killing rate, their destructiveness, how fast jets fly, how many bombs they carry, and how he bores readers with brand names like Uzi, Kevlar, Glock and so on. It is a common enough term, just as you get car porn, house porn and food porn -- terms to describe a similar, lascivious overindulgence in motoring journalism, the waffle of decor editors and glossy pictures of cakes.

But someone chose to insert a comma in "weapons porn" -- meaning that, in addition to all the guns and bombs that Clancy clutters his books with, he also assails his readers with heaps of thrusting cocks and sopping holes.

Sadly, this is not the case.

There are other instances where words are needlessly removed, destroying cadence, and where phrases have been reworked in a confusing manner. It's annoying that I take some care with the column only to have it ruined by such sloppiness.

Please slap the person responsible for this sabotage.

Andrew

1 comment:

  1. And add a snotklap on my behalf, for good measure.

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