Typos: Who Cares?

Pajamaman · 02-27-2020, 11:27 AM

A mere mini-rant on my part. I keep reading reviews on Amazon where the reviewer says "OMG I can't stand all the typoes (sic)"

My first point is, typos don't bother me much. I read a lot of stuff in translation, and I see all kinds of mistake, and I just don't care. It adds tone. Whatever.

My second point is this: I have read some of those books, or passages that have been criticized, and a lot of them DON'T have any typos. That's right. What's with all these sudden idiotic grammar-syntax Nazis who sit back criticizing text and they DON'T KNOW GRAMMAR themselves

OMG! They're so stupid. It's so funny. Where did all these arm-chair grammar pontificaters come from?

I will say I don't read a lot of self-pubbed stuff, but I see criticisms for all types of books, and I see the texts myself. I think it's just a snob thing. People love to give themselves airs. They probably just buy the book and put it on the shelf, then say "Oh, I couldn't read it. The typos!"

Anyway, maybe you feel differently.

MSWallack · 02-27-2020, 11:33 AM

I should never struggle to understand what the author meant because of a typographical error. Nor should I have to struggle to understand an element of the story because of poor grammar. Editors exist for a reason.

Deskisamess · 02-27-2020, 11:37 AM

Too many typos are sloppy, and give the impression that the author doesn't care enough about their finished product to make sure errors are caught and corrected. This shows a lack of concern for their readers also.

Missing words, obvious errors in tense, or misuse of common homophones such as to-too-two, pull me right out of the story.

Grammar is not my strong suit. But I usually know if something is wrong, even if I don't know how to correct it. When a book contains multiple errors, it's just sloppy.

ShortNet · 02-27-2020, 11:53 AM

Typos pull me out of a book. Somehow, I have problems imagining a shapeshifting mousse.

On the kindle I will often use the, "report an error" and highlight the typo. It may not ever be fixed, but it makes me feel better and I can go back to enjoying the story.

A lot of the ones I find are for homonyms would/wood their/there. It makes me wonder if people edit their books using text to speech functionality.

That said, there has been only one book where formatting and typos made me mention it in a review - the author had recopied over an entire scene in two different sections of the book and left in some obvious edits. Sadly, when last I checked the book hadn't bee fixed.

Luffy · 02-27-2020, 11:57 AM

It depends on the dosage. One typo in a 300 pages book is okay. That's as far as I'll stretch me neck.

DiapDealer · 02-27-2020, 12:01 PM

It's all about the frequency for me. Pretty-much every book ever printed has had typos. A few here or there don't bother me at all. Neither should they bother a reviewer.

And yes... the sudden rise of self-proclaimed grammar/typography "experts" is quite annoying.

DiapDealer · 02-27-2020, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luffy

One typo in a 300 pages book is okay. That's as far as I'll stretch me neck.

Most publishers/books ever printed wouldn't meet that strict a requirement.

doubleshuffle · 02-27-2020, 12:11 PM

I've just proofread a book which had about four dozen typos in 720 pages. I think that's a bit more than average, but not unusual, and not a problem at all.

Sirtel · 02-27-2020, 12:40 PM

I can swallow a moderate amount of typos, even though they can be annoying. C'mon, English is not my native language and I'm not even all that good in it... and if I can spot a typo, why couldn't the author/proofreader/editor who presumably is a native speaker? Still, as I said, I can live with a few typos here and there. Constant misuse of homophones, apostrophes and the like stinks of sloppiness, though.

Pajamaman · 02-27-2020, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I can swallow a moderate amount of typos, even though they can be annoying. C'mon, English is not my native language and I'm not even all that good in it... and if I can spot a typo, why couldn't the author/proofreader/editor who presumably is a native speaker? Still, as I said, I can live with a few typos here and there. Constant misuse of homophones, apostrophes and the like stinks of sloppiness, though.

Have you ever written a book? Have ever proof-read a novel-length book? Those little mistakes can be easy to miss. Words that are spelled right, but are the wrong word so the spell-catcher misses them. Missing words. It is hard to catch them all over 100,000 words.

Sirtel · 02-27-2020, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Have you ever written a book? Have ever proof-read a novel-length book? Those little mistakes can be easy to miss. Words that are spelled right, but are the wrong word so the spell-catcher misses them. Missing words. It is hard to catch them all over 100,000 words.

I get that the author might not catch them, but a proofreader or editor should, that's their job, after all. There are many self-published authors who are capable of publishing practically error-free books, I've read several of them. Most of them aren't rich or famous. If you're not capable of publishing your book without a multitude of typos, then you should not ask people to pay for it, either. Imho, of course.

4691mls · 02-27-2020, 01:18 PM

A few scattered errors is understandable. But typos do distract me from the story so if there are too many of them it ruins the experience.

maddz · 02-27-2020, 01:42 PM

Typos pull me right out of a story. These can be the standard homophone errors or sloppy post-OCR proofreading. There was one OCR book where the hero's name was spelt 3 different ways and I kept wondering who this new character was and why was he apparently the hero's stunt-double...

Poor grammar bothers me less, but poor editing is another peeve - especially sloppy transitions. An award-winning book suffered badly from that - I kept thinking hang about, last chapter they were in location A, now they're in location B with no sense of transition. They were talking about going to B, but nothing indicated they actually left.

I didn't recall any mention of an instantaneous transport device... (Nice work if there was one - it would make travel enjoyable not to have to endure all the tedious mucking around at airports and time in an aerial sardine-can.)

Pajamaman · 02-27-2020, 01:54 PM

I've noticed a lot of reputable news sites contain more and more typos. This surprises me. How can we expect poor writers to correct typos when established news outlets don't bother anymore?

hobnail · 02-27-2020, 02:02 PM

I must be lucky, I can only remember one occurrence and it was in a library book and a previous reader caught it where it was the name of the wrong character so they drew a line through the incorrect name and wrote next to it the correct name. I was kind of glad they fixed it but I still feel that library books shouldn't be defaced, although I've managed to stop being outraged over pages that have been dog-eared.

My favorite memory of library book defacement was one where a character was using a lot of swear words and someone had gone through and marked them out with a black felt tip marker.

Eh, I take that back about only one; I remember starting a book and thinking that they really should have had a good proof reader / editor. But the book was also boring and uninteresting so it was quickly dropped on the return-to-library pile.

02-27-2020, 11:27 AM	#1
Pajamaman Wizard Posts: 2,861 Karma: 10700629 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Canada Device: Onyx Nova	Typos: Who Cares? A mere mini-rant on my part. I keep reading reviews on Amazon where the reviewer says "OMG I can't stand all the typoes (sic)" My first point is, typos don't bother me much. I read a lot of stuff in translation, and I see all kinds of mistake, and I just don't care. It adds tone. Whatever. My second point is this: I have read some of those books, or passages that have been criticized, and a lot of them DON'T have any typos. That's right. What's with all these sudden idiotic grammar-syntax Nazis who sit back criticizing text and they DON'T KNOW GRAMMAR themselves OMG! They're so stupid. It's so funny. Where did all these arm-chair grammar pontificaters come from? I will say I don't read a lot of self-pubbed stuff, but I see criticisms for all types of books, and I see the texts myself. I think it's just a snob thing. People love to give themselves airs. They probably just buy the book and put it on the shelf, then say "Oh, I couldn't read it. The typos!" Anyway, maybe you feel differently.

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02-27-2020, 11:33 AM	#2
MSWallack Right, Except When Wrong Posts: 363 Karma: 4323767 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Indianapolis Device: Kindle Oasis 3 (sometimes iPad Mini).	I should never struggle to understand what the author meant because of a typographical error. Nor should I have to struggle to understand an element of the story because of poor grammar. Editors exist for a reason.

02-27-2020, 11:37 AM	#3
Deskisamess Wizard Posts: 2,752 Karma: 45301087 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Ohio Device: iPhone 13 Pro, iPad mini, iPad Pro 12.9",Paperwhite 6.8", Scribe 2022	Too many typos are sloppy, and give the impression that the author doesn't care enough about their finished product to make sure errors are caught and corrected. This shows a lack of concern for their readers also. Missing words, obvious errors in tense, or misuse of common homophones such as to-too-two, pull me right out of the story. Grammar is not my strong suit. But I usually know if something is wrong, even if I don't know how to correct it. When a book contains multiple errors, it's just sloppy.

02-27-2020, 11:53 AM	#4
ShortNet Connoisseur Posts: 58 Karma: 2247216 Join Date: May 2015 Location: Somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic Device: Kindle (all flavors from 1 thru Oasis)	Typos pull me out of a book. Somehow, I have problems imagining a shapeshifting mousse. On the kindle I will often use the, "report an error" and highlight the typo. It may not ever be fixed, but it makes me feel better and I can go back to enjoying the story. A lot of the ones I find are for homonyms would/wood their/there. It makes me wonder if people edit their books using text to speech functionality. That said, there has been only one book where formatting and typos made me mention it in a review - the author had recopied over an entire scene in two different sections of the book and left in some obvious edits. Sadly, when last I checked the book hadn't bee fixed.

02-27-2020, 11:57 AM	#5
Luffy Wizard Posts: 4,464 Karma: 429063498 Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Mauritius Device: Kindle Paperwhite 4	It depends on the dosage. One typo in a 300 pages book is okay. That's as far as I'll stretch me neck.

02-27-2020, 12:01 PM	#6
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,557 Karma: 204127028 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	It's all about the frequency for me. Pretty-much every book ever printed has had typos. A few here or there don't bother me at all. Neither should they bother a reviewer. And yes... the sudden rise of self-proclaimed grammar/typography "experts" is quite annoying.

02-27-2020, 12:11 PM	#8
doubleshuffle Unicycle Daredevil Posts: 13,944 Karma: 185432100 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Planet of the Pudding Brains Device: Aura HD (R.I.P. After six years the USB socket died.) tolino shine 3	I've just proofread a book which had about four dozen typos in 720 pages. I think that's a bit more than average, but not unusual, and not a problem at all.

02-27-2020, 12:40 PM	#9
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,437 Karma: 239219453 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	I can swallow a moderate amount of typos, even though they can be annoying. C'mon, English is not my native language and I'm not even all that good in it... and if I can spot a typo, why couldn't the author/proofreader/editor who presumably is a native speaker? Still, as I said, I can live with a few typos here and there. Constant misuse of homophones, apostrophes and the like stinks of sloppiness, though.

02-27-2020, 01:18 PM	#12
4691mls Wizard Posts: 2,776 Karma: 30081762 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: US Device: ALL DEVICES ARE STOCK: Kobo Clara, Tolino Shine 2, Sony PRS-T3, T1	A few scattered errors is understandable. But typos do distract me from the story so if there are too many of them it ruins the experience.

02-27-2020, 01:42 PM	#13
maddz Wizard Posts: 1,403 Karma: 30039536 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Device: Kobo Forma, Icarus, iPad Mini 2, Kobo Touch, Google Nexus 7	Typos pull me right out of a story. These can be the standard homophone errors or sloppy post-OCR proofreading. There was one OCR book where the hero's name was spelt 3 different ways and I kept wondering who this new character was and why was he apparently the hero's stunt-double... Poor grammar bothers me less, but poor editing is another peeve - especially sloppy transitions. An award-winning book suffered badly from that - I kept thinking hang about, last chapter they were in location A, now they're in location B with no sense of transition. They were talking about going to B, but nothing indicated they actually left. I didn't recall any mention of an instantaneous transport device... (Nice work if there was one - it would make travel enjoyable not to have to endure all the tedious mucking around at airports and time in an aerial sardine-can.)

02-27-2020, 01:54 PM	#14
Pajamaman Wizard Posts: 2,861 Karma: 10700629 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Canada Device: Onyx Nova	I've noticed a lot of reputable news sites contain more and more typos. This surprises me. How can we expect poor writers to correct typos when established news outlets don't bother anymore?

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02-27-2020, 02:02 PM	#15
hobnail Running with scissors Posts: 1,586 Karma: 14328510 Join Date: Nov 2019 Device: none	I must be lucky, I can only remember one occurrence and it was in a library book and a previous reader caught it where it was the name of the wrong character so they drew a line through the incorrect name and wrote next to it the correct name. I was kind of glad they fixed it but I still feel that library books shouldn't be defaced, although I've managed to stop being outraged over pages that have been dog-eared. My favorite memory of library book defacement was one where a character was using a lot of swear words and someone had gone through and marked them out with a black felt tip marker. Eh, I take that back about only one; I remember starting a book and thinking that they really should have had a good proof reader / editor. But the book was also boring and uninteresting so it was quickly dropped on the return-to-library pile.