To follow up from my previous post, we're halfway to someone being the lucky winner of an autographed book from me. There are now 25 people who have proudly declared themselves followers of this blog. When there are 50, a winner will be randomly selected. Simply add yourself as a follower using either Google Friend Connect (click on "Join This Site"), or Networked Blogs (click on "Follow This Blog"). Both sections are on the right.
Keep in mind there's a good possibility that when I'm gone an autographed copy of one of my books could get as much as $20 on e-Bay, and that's a conservative guess - it might reach $22 in a bidding frenzy. And this morning I woke up with the sniffles - you never know where that might lead. So become a follower before it's too late.
Every year Scripps sponsors a spelling bee which attracts contestants from the 50 states, D.C., all the U.S. territories, and Department of Defense schools around the world. This year's competition had 278 entrants. It was held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, MD. The three-day event concluded on May 31, with 14-year-old Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, California becoming the champion, spelling guetapens to outlast the other 277 competitors.
Guetapens?? This is a word? A word that a 14-year-old can spell? It looks to me like someone tossed a handful of Scrabble tiles in the air and this is what came up. If I had those letters in my Scrabble tray, I'd curse my bad luck at having no good letters, while it might be worth over 100 points if I could get a triple-word score. Apparently it's a French-derived word that means, trap, snare, or ambush. I know the few times I've needed to use one of the words, trap, snare, or ambush I've opted to use them, never realizing I had another option.
Young Ms. Nandipati's skills can be put to good use. There are countless examples of spelling errors in books, magazines, advertisements, and other places with high visibility that get past who knows how many proofreaders. Let's stick with our educational system for the purposes of this blog. In Maryland's Prince George's County - where the spelling bee was held - more than 8,000 graduates from 23 high schools received diplomas that read the grads had completed "an approved PROGAM of study". (Caps are mine for emphasis.) I'm sure Snigdha would have caught this error.
In 2011, the cover of Georgetown's commencement book, which was given to over 2,000 students, read "Commencement - 2011 - Georgetown UNIVERISTY" (Again, caps are mine.) Snighda, where were you when Georgetown needed you?
However, the most egregious example of an institution of higher learning needing some serious proofreading help from Ms. Nandipati comes from The University of Texas at Austin, whose graduates of one of the colleges were informed they had just received degrees from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of PUBIC Affairs. See it here. What in heck are they studying there? And am I too old to matriculate? Get your mind out of the gutter, matriculate isn't what you think it is!
Anyway, there are so many more mistakes like this. Snighda, your future awaits.
Cute John, and oh, so true. You have no idea how many press releases (and resumes) I got when I was a newspaper editor from professionals who didn't know the difference between your and you're.
ReplyDeleteWant to trade books?
This is another topic I could go on and on about. Next time you come to a group meeting we can swap. I always have mine available. I hope you can make the July 11 meeting at Barnes and Noble.
DeleteAren't words wonderful? The English language is rich with contributions from many other languages. Words have moved me to poetry-and helped me write it, too. Once, while recovering from surgery, I read the Oxford English Dictionary! OK-one volume. Almost. But it fostered a love of entomology. Uh-or is that etymology? Regardless, you see I can spell them both! Write on, John!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gini. I tried reading the dictionary once, too. Couldn't get past abacus. The plot was virtually non-existent, although I found the characters to be well drawn out, particularly the aardvark.
DeleteWonderful, John. I'm with you as far as spelling or misspelling words. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteDiane
Thanks, Diane. My biggest concern was misspelling something in the blog. I must have read it twenty times before posting it!
DeleteYour blog is a great contribution for entire blogosphere John
ReplyDeletegreat work -http://jakesprinter.blogspot.com/
That's very nice of you to say, Jake. Thanks for becoming a follower. You'll be in the running for an autographed book when I get to fifty.
DeletePriceless as always John and spot on. My latest novel manuscript went through two complete copy edits (in addition to mine) and then two judges in a competition. Of all of us, only one judge caught that I had attributed dialogue to the wrong character three times in three chapters!! It was about to go to layout!
ReplyDeleteI too saw "pubic" in a newspaper headline about a judge whose name had been made "public" after being found in a prostitute's address book... cringe...
Thanks, Mary. It's amazing how many sets of eyes can read something, and still miss errors. From now on I'll always double check when I use the word "public"!
DeleteWe live in the world in which we bombarded by information at an unprecedented rate. Authors no longer have to strive for literary perfection. The transformation of the publishing industry has fostered in a new era were authors can go around traditional publishing and become entrepreneurs. This is a good. Readers can now decide if a novel has merit, a privilege once held by large publishing companies. Good books are now available that once would have sat as drafts in the desk of their authors. However, the doors have opened for a flood of poorly written and executed works of literature. We also live in a time when young children play in games that have no winners. I hope that when these children become adults, their written words reveal a sense of pride. It's time to realize that we must hold our standards high. Published words, in any form, must be edited and double checked before they are released to the public. If we continue to publish the typos like John has identified, we will expose ourselves as a society no longer in need of perfection.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Glenn. One of the things I get on my high horse about, when asked, is the high amount of books by Indie authors that are published with little or no editing. Once a reader is turned off by a badly written and edited book, all Indie authors are impacted.
DeleteWell John, It just bit me. Page 19 of '....Edge'. Wrote decent instead of deScent. Oh well, my hero had a decent descent. Hope you missed it.
ReplyDeleteBarry
You shouldn't have said anything, Barry. Now you'll end up in my next blog! But I'm sure it was a decent descent!
Deleteuse bees so rite john....nandipati to the resku........
ReplyDeletelindapatti
Ouch!! I asked Snigdha to give you a call! (Evie told me you sent a comment - somehow I missed it!)
DeleteI hesitated to read the blog, not having a clue what a Snigda Nandipati might be... hope I spelled it properly. But it brought back memories of spelling bees I participated in when I was young. The one time I came close to winning in Martin County, I got the word conquer which I certainly could have spelled, but somehow my brain heard the word concur which is what I did spell. I had no clue that proper spellers asked for definitions and all that other information.
ReplyDeleteI am positive that my spelling skills that year were at their height. Since I was 12 they've gone downhill. I consider myself a good proofreader of what other people write, not what I write. But I'm pretty sure I'd have missed all of the big typos you wrote about. The reason is clear. It's harder to see a type when it's in big print. And there is some comfort in knowing that I'm not alone.
Judy Fishel
Judy, I have the same memories of spelling bees, and like you I remember missing a word (I forget what it was, bit it was simple), because I over thought it and thought I heard something else.
DeleteI see that you're up to 52 followers now... :) Also, the your and you're mix ups drive me crazy!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award! hee hee. You can find out more at my post here: http://ambergarr.blogspot.com/2012/07/versatile-blog-award.html
Hi, Amber. Now that you're one of my followers, you're eligible for the contest, so you may win an autographed copy of one of my books. I'll announce the winner with my next post in about a week. Thanks for the nomination. I'll check out your blog to learn more about it!
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