When one of my colleagues asked me to guest teach a class on editing in his course on narrative nonfiction writing at Georgetown University, I was flattered. And when he told me this "class" would be held at a bar, and I'd get one-on-one time with each student to go over their essays (which I'd marked up and returned ahead of time), I thought all classes should be taught this way.
I'm only sort of kidding. I spent two years teaching English, but in a much, much different setting--at a boarding high school for gifted math and science students in Gongju, South Korea. In the casual setting of the bar, I encouraged these (adult) students to ask questions, to press me on the reasons for any changes they didn't intuitively understand, and to talk about their writing choices.
One student, after hearing me cite the rule behind a particular common error, asked tentatively, "Is there anything you still have to look up when you're editing?"
I almost snorfed my lovely-yet-affordable Shiraz. "I look stuff up all the time!" I told her. "I have the Chicago Manual of Style Online and Merriam Webster set to open tabs when I start my browser."
The truth is that even the most experienced editors have to double-check stuff. Every writer and editor I know has at least a few bugaboos, rules or distinctions that somehow just seem less intuitive than the rest.
So in November, I started keeping track of what I had to look up--and publicly owning up to each one. Being a good proofreader or copyeditor isn't about knowing all of the rules cold; it's about figuring out where your blind spots are and filling in the gaps with expertise, either by consulting the right resources or training yourself to understand and remember something you've struggled with.
On Twitter, you can find the things I've had to look up recently under the hashtag #TIHLU, for Things I Had to Look Up. The first five are below--and you're welcome to Tweet your own!
I'm only sort of kidding. I spent two years teaching English, but in a much, much different setting--at a boarding high school for gifted math and science students in Gongju, South Korea. In the casual setting of the bar, I encouraged these (adult) students to ask questions, to press me on the reasons for any changes they didn't intuitively understand, and to talk about their writing choices.
One student, after hearing me cite the rule behind a particular common error, asked tentatively, "Is there anything you still have to look up when you're editing?"
I almost snorfed my lovely-yet-affordable Shiraz. "I look stuff up all the time!" I told her. "I have the Chicago Manual of Style Online and Merriam Webster set to open tabs when I start my browser."
The truth is that even the most experienced editors have to double-check stuff. Every writer and editor I know has at least a few bugaboos, rules or distinctions that somehow just seem less intuitive than the rest.
So in November, I started keeping track of what I had to look up--and publicly owning up to each one. Being a good proofreader or copyeditor isn't about knowing all of the rules cold; it's about figuring out where your blind spots are and filling in the gaps with expertise, either by consulting the right resources or training yourself to understand and remember something you've struggled with.
On Twitter, you can find the things I've had to look up recently under the hashtag #TIHLU, for Things I Had to Look Up. The first five are below--and you're welcome to Tweet your own!
Things I had to look up (#TIHTLU):
— Dara Kaye (@DaraKaye) November 2, 2015
1. Whether "Millennial" (and other generation names) are capitalized.
(They're not.)#amediting
Things I Had To Look Up (#TIHTLU) #2:
— Dara Kaye (@DaraKaye) November 2, 2015
Whether "disgorged" can be used as an intransitive verb.
(It can be.)#amediting
Things I Had To Look Up (#TIHTLU):
— Dara Kaye (@DaraKaye) November 2, 2015
3. The definition of "cadged"
"To ask for or obtain something to which one is not strictly entitled."
Things I Had To Look Up (#TIHTLU)
— Dara Kaye (@DaraKaye) November 2, 2015
4. Whether "horse-drawn" (adj) is one word
(Trusty @MerriamWebster assures me it is not.)
#TIHTLU Whether "mini" can stand on its own as an adj meaning "small in relation to others of the same kind."
— Dara Kaye (@DaraKaye) November 9, 2015
(It can.)#amediting
RSS Feed