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Confessions of a 24/7 Editor

Written by Eric Damer; copy edited by Meagan Kus

Like many people who find themselves working as an editor, I grew up in a household of word enthusiasts. My father, an English teacher, methodically circled spelling and grammar errors in the local newspaper or identified errors in environmental print, but he also loved puns, spoonerisms, double-entendres, and wordplay of all sorts. Well before I turned to editing as a line of work, I knew the value of saying what you meant, and meaning what you said—unless you had a joke to tell. Now, it seems, I have difficulty turning off my error-checker for the sake of a chuckle.

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DRIVE-BY EDITING: punctuation & capitalization

Cheryl Hannah noticed this sign while waiting to be seated at a Vancouver Island restaurant. She was puzzled why the copywriter chose to insert a full stop after “We will be Pleased to seat you” but omitted one after “Welcome.” She was also puzzled why the copywriter chose to capitalize “Pleased.”

Family members, accustomed to her editorial obsessions, formed a ring around her so that she could take the photo without causing a scene.

Photo by Cheryl Hannah.