[Vwoolf] Leonard Woolf as copy editor

Tue Nov 5 05:39:35 EST 2013

We here at Corporate Solutions think we know that it is better to deliver
magnetically than to morph virtually. What does the commonly-accepted
industry jargon "compliance" really mean? Think transparent. Think
six-sigma. Think user-centric. But don't think all three at the same time.
Our functionality is second to none, but our six-sigma sticky wireless TQM
and user-proof configuration is constantly considered a terrific
achievement. The metrics for networks are more well-understood if they are
not reconfigurable. Think transparent, cross-platform. Think six-sigma.
Think B2B2C. But don't think all three at the same time. Your budget for
syndicating should be at least one-tenth of your budget for seizing. Think
macro-turn-key. What does it really mean to architect
"cyber-micro-virtually"? The mindshare factor can be summed up in one word:
1000/60/60/24/7/365. Is it more important for something to be 24/7 or to be
turn-key? Our feature set is unparalleled in the industry, but our
efficient interfaces and non-complex use is often considered a terrific
achievement. We understand that it is better to exploit intuitively than to
iterate nano-perfectly.

We here at Corporate Solutions understand that it is better to enhance
wirelessly than to grow super-super-virally. Without e-commerce, you will
lack e-commerce. Is it more important for something to be blog-based or to
be social-network-based? We will add to our aptitude to target without
depreciating our power to strategize. A company that can repurpose easily
will (at some indefinite point of time) be able to deliver faithfully. What
does the commonly-used term "user communities" really mean? The R&D factor
can be summed up in one word: e-business. We will integrate the ability of
e-markets to incubate. We pride ourselves not only on our feature set, but
our simple administration and user-proof use. Without preplanned users,
back-end, revolutionary client-focused process management are forced to
become efficient. The aptitude to embrace seamlessly leads to the
capability to brand virally.

2013/10/30 Sarah M. Hall <smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk>

> Ouch! Never edit a scientist unless you are very sure of your ground,
> would be my advice to that unwise editor. I used to write and edit medical
> research material and was always very wary of changing unfamiliar phrases
> -- as you found to your cost, even tiny edits can completely alter the
> meaning, or even reverse it. The fact that 're-uptake' appeared in the
> quotation though should have been a big clue to them!
>
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *From:* Mary Ellen Foley <mefoleyuk at gmail.com>
> *To:* Jeremy Hawthorn <jeremy.hawthorn at ntnu.no>
> *Cc:* "VWOOLF at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu" <VWOOLF at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, 29 October 2013, 17:49
>
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] Leonard Woolf as copy editor
>
> I'm an editor, and I've been edited.  (Cue Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides
> Now".)
>
> My worst experience of being edited was at the Stanford Daily, the daily
> newspaper of Stanford University and the surrounding community.  To cut a
> long story short, I interviewed a professor who was doing the work on
> serotonin re-uptake inhibitors that has since given us the now-familiar
> SSRI drugs.  (This was Very Long Ago.)  But the editor decided there was no
> such word as "re-uptake" and changed it to "uptake" everywhere, including
> in quotations, so that the science in the piece was reduced to meaningless
> hash (since re-uptake is what happens to leftover neurotransmitters after
> uptake, uptake and re-uptake being separate processes performed by
> different cells--which I had explained in the article I wrote).  I was so
> embarrassed I couldn't even apologize to the professor.
>
> I would be grateful if list members could tell me about instances of bad
> editing they've been subjected to, for use in an article I'm putting
> together.
>
> M E Foley
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 10:38 AM, Jeremy Hawthorn <jeremy.hawthorn at ntnu.no
> > wrote:
>
>  Much truth in this. But there is another side of the coin. Who would
> have thought that the Internet would become a place where young people
> correct grammatical mistakes made by their peers? And yet this has
> happened. They may get called Grammar Nazis for doing it, but that doesn't
> stop them. So beware if you post online and confuse "your" with "you're" -
> someone will point out your error. My guess is that kids pay more attention
> to such corrections made online than they do when teacher makes them on an
> essay that no-one else sees (no criticism of teachers, incidentally).
> History, as Mr Eliot pointed out, has many cunning passages.
>
> Jeremy H
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* Melanie White [melanie.white at comcast.net]
> *Sent:* 29 October 2013 18:29
> *To:* Jeremy Hawthorn; VWOOLF at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> *Subject:* RE: [Vwoolf] Leonard Woolf as copy editor
>
>   I worked for many years as a copy editor. As spell-checkers became more
> common, copy editors became more expendable. In time, copy editor functions
> were folded into other job descriptions, based on the assumption that
> anyone semi-literate could do it. Many employers believed just about
> anybody could copy edit, so why pay a specialist? We were called on to
> justify ourselves more and more, and eventually our jobs were eliminated.
>
> In the last ten years or so, things like texting and on-line commenting
> have eroded public expectations. People have grown accustomed to sloppiness
> and forgive it because they make so many errors themselves when IMing their
> coworkers or texting with their kids.
>
> I also blame reality TV for a lot of this mixing-up-of-similar-words. Not
> everyone can reach for the right word and lay hands on it in the moment.
> Most of us need a sec. But when you’re on a reality TV show and the
> producer has the camera on you, you don’t want to look hesistant or
> inarticulate. So you grab at validate but instead end up with solidify. Who
> cares? You get the idea.
>
> Newspapers are dying or dead, and most magazines and journals exist on
> paper as a sidelight to their “online presence.” And people seem way more
> forgiving online, so both editions are infected with rampant carelessness
> in the rush for 24/7 coverage of everything from Middle East protests to
> warning signs for botox abuse.
>
> I’m not a snob, I swear. I love the way English continues to grow and
> change over time. I’m willing and happy to change rules or introduce new
> usages. I am not opposed to change. But there’s a difference between change
> and sloppiness.
>
> I’m a lover of words. I consider myself one of a dying breed, the last of
> a dying species. I am in my mid-50s. I learned to set type on a Varityper,
> but typesetting was replaced by word processing, which has been replaced by
> the Internet. I loved the precision of setting type. I love the precision
> of words. I consider it an art: sensing when to abide by a rule or bend it
> for the sake of an effect. But some things are just plain wrong when
> they’re wrong. I wonder when – or whether – we’ll reach bottom in our
> tolerance for sloppiness. I figure when people start losing money or dying
> because of it.
>
> N.B. I apologize now for any typos or grammatical mistakes in this post.
>
>  *From:* vwoolf-bounces+melanie.white=
> comcast.net at lists.service.ohio-state.edu [mailto:
> vwoolf-bounces+melanie.white=comcast.net at lists.service.ohio-state.edu] *
> On Behalf Of *Jeremy Hawthorn
> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 29, 2013 6:00 AM
> *To:* VWOOLF at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] Leonard Woolf as copy editor
>
>  Fascinating information. Writers do seem to vary enormously when it
> comes to such things, with some checking every comma and semi-colon at
> every stage of the publishing process, and others - well, leaving it to
> spouses and copy editors. As Mark implies, such matters do impact on
> theories of textual editing. It does seem to me that if a writer leaves the
> fine-tuning of - say - punctuation to a copy editor, then this has to
> impact on matters of scholarly editing. Getting back to the "final
> authorial version" may not be as appropriate in such cases as it is where
> the writer wanted control over ever tiny detail right through to
> publication. On the other hand, as anyone who has had their writing
> copy-edited knows, leaving the final check of your punctuation to someone
> else must on occasions result in changes of meaning.
>
> Jeremy H
>
>
> On 25.10.2013 14:20, Mark Hussey wrote:
>
> No, VW was quite sloppy and LW copy edited her texts. In * The Death of
> the Moth and Other Essays* (1942), Leonard wrote of his having
> “punctuated and corrected obvious verbal mistakes. I have not hesitated to
> do this, since I always revised the MSS. of her books and articles in this
> way before they were published.”
>
> Of course, as recent textual editing theory has taught us, editing is
> always interpretation!
>
>  *From:* vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu [
> mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu<vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu>]
> *On Behalf Of *Jeremy Hawthorn
> *Sent:* Friday, October 25, 2013 7:57 AM
> *To:* 'list', 'woolf' [VWOOLF at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu]
> *Subject:* [Vwoolf] Leonard Woolf as copy editor
>
>  Is it John Lehmann who has written about how scrupulous a copy editor
> Leonard W was? I have a memory of some such account. But did Virginia do
> copy editing for the Hogarth Press? I should know this but don't.
>
> Jeremy H
>
>
>
>
>  --
>
> Professor Jeremy Hawthorn
>
> Emeritus Professor
>
> Department of Modern Foreign Languages
>
> NTNU
>
> 7491 Trondheim
>
> Norway
>
>
>
> (Int + 47)73596787 (work)
>
> (Int + 47)72887602 (home)
>
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