Quote of the day 04.23

John McIntyre over at You Don't Say, his blog on language and usage, writes today about common errors in copy editing, as well as a common copy editors' lament:

One of my students experienced a flash of insight into copy editing, saying, "You catch 19 errors in a story and then get penalized for the 20th. It' just not fair."

Well, kid, it comes with the territory. No one ever said it would be fair.

But my favorite part is the second sentence here, which qualifies as the quote of the day (and maybe the month):

A story with only 20 errors may be better than average. Some years back, a veteran reporter set to work on the city desk commented after the first week, "Reading other people's raw copy is like looking at your grandmother naked."

I am so stealing that one.