04-17-2010, 03:58 PM | #1 |
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An insight into the heart of a publisher
I don't see why anyone would be offended!, said Bob Sessions of Penguin group Australia.
really???? you don't get why "...salt and freshly ground black people..." would be offensive? it was an honest mistake until you called it "silly". now it IS offensive. and these are the folks that we expect to be reasonable over ebook prices! |
04-17-2010, 09:02 PM | #2 |
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Not sure I understand what your link has to do with the quote??
What does a Frappr map has to do with freshly ground black people..? |
04-17-2010, 09:04 PM | #3 |
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Not sure I understand what your link has to do with the quote??
What does a Frappr map has to do with freshly ground black people..? |
04-17-2010, 09:07 PM | #4 | |
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try it again |
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04-17-2010, 10:56 PM | #5 |
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Spell check gone amok!
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04-18-2010, 03:34 AM | #6 |
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Would it have been offensive if the same typo had appeared in a recipe which simply called for freshly-ground pepper?
No ... everybody seeing "freshly-ground people" in the ingredients would have laughed their asses off, shouted "It's people! It's people!", and suggested the cookbook be retitled "To Serve Man". Among all the atrocities that humans have committed on other humans, I'm unaware of organized cannibalism by non-black people on black people being any one of them. Therefore, it couldn't be construed as a reference to something bad someone's ancestors did to someone else's ancestors, because for something to be an offensive reference, there must be something for it to refer to. It's just a typo that got mangled by a spelling checker. Yes, a silly mistake. Nothing more sinister than that. And trying to blow it up into anything more important than it is serves no one except those who wish to divide and rule. The real offense is that someone thinks spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto is food. |
04-18-2010, 04:30 AM | #7 |
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Exactly. It was just a typo. There was no intention behind it. The upsetting thing is that people use innocent typos for there own purpose and forces the destruction of resources.
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04-18-2010, 04:34 AM | #8 |
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This incident, even if silly (yes, there is no other word for making such noise in behalf of a spelling mistake present only in one recipe) proves once again the strong role of proofreading in books.
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04-18-2010, 05:49 AM | #9 |
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Yep, Bob's right. It's a mistake and an amusing one, not worthy of causing offense, unless the book was really expensive.
Besides, my [admittedly superficial] experience tells me that humans taste basically the same. If the typo is intentional, it must be for garnish reasons only. Last edited by LDBoblo; 04-18-2010 at 05:51 AM. Reason: garnish, not garish ;) |
04-18-2010, 06:55 AM | #10 | |
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Edit, added; automatic spell-checkers sometimes gives really weird results. Last edited by Ea; 04-18-2010 at 07:02 AM. |
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04-18-2010, 07:13 AM | #11 |
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it's the attitude of the publisher on the back end that is offensive. instead of "oh my! terribly sorry!" he comes out on the offensive telling people that they are "silly" to be offended. I completely get that it is a silly little mistake. his attitude makes it not silly and not little
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04-18-2010, 07:58 AM | #12 | |
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Quote:
I for one am hoping for something less mature. I hope that their next cookbook featuring spicy dishes will have "dried and crushed red chilean people" in it. Would love to see how Bob handles that. Last edited by LDBoblo; 04-18-2010 at 08:02 AM. |
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04-18-2010, 08:04 AM | #13 |
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I don't really see how anyone could mistype "people" instead of "pepper", - unless it was some kind of Freudian slip - and since both would be recognised by a spellchecker as legitimate words I don't buy that explanation either. If the first or the second "p" of pepper were to be mistyped with an "o" an English language spellchecker would suggest "pepper" but would not suggest "people".
I can understand that some layout artist or typesetter thought it would be "funny" to replace pepper with people and having done so it got through whatever proofing process followed. It would not be the same issue if the recipe had called for white pepper and this had been "mistyped" as "white people" in part at least because of the history of the relationships between black people and white people in Australia and elsewhere. And that's why the original error is offensive and the response of the publisher more so. |
04-18-2010, 08:05 AM | #14 | |
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04-18-2010, 08:15 AM | #15 |
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