I am correcting page proofs for our 69-page resurrection article (cum additional pages for the bibliography). I am seeking reader input on the following question: What punishment should be reserved in Dante's hades for copy editors who...
--occasionally add commas that make one's sentences mean something different (and silly)?
--don't know that the proper possessive meaning "belonging to Jesus" is "Jesus'"?
--replace the written number "three" in the phrase "after three days" (referring to Jesus' resurrection) with the numeral 3, making it look ridiculous ("after 3 days")?
--replace, uniformly, all one's uses of the word "though" with "although," throughout a 69-page article, apparently using a robotic find and replace function, and without one's knowledge or consent?
--take out the word "to" in the phrase "stands in a relation to," which changes the meaning of the sentence so that it does not make sense?
...
Okay, that's enough. I can't bear to keep listing them. And I'm going to have to induce the publishers to change all this stuff back. I've gotten this far in life with relatively few grey hairs. I expect to have a few more after the next couple of weeks.
They should have to read the entire Vatican archives. The punishment is that they can't change a thing.
ReplyDeleteI like it. I like it.
ReplyDeleteOr, perhaps they should learn Arabic and read the Qur'an. The punishment is that they have to change perceived errors.
ReplyDeleteIf they have to correct the factual and theological errors, they could be there for a long, long time. :-) On bread and water, preferably.
ReplyDelete