![]() |
#136 |
Guru
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 767
Karma: 4837659
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: San Angelo Texas
Device: Samsung Galaxy tab
|
Some types bother me. I don't usually blame the author because it's the publisher who transposed letters or dropped a letter. It's the homophones that get me. Or confusing a noun and a verb. The lineman dominated the field because he was a dominant player. A person is NOT a dominate.
A character changing names mid scene is also a turn off. "Wait, there's only two people in the car. Who is 'X'?" Only to reread several times to realize they just called the other person the wrong name, to no reaction from said person. I've been called the wrong name before, I definitely brought it up. It was obvious when I figured it out that the character changed names during writing and the find/replace didn't find all instances. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#137 |
Astronomy Nut
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 519
Karma: 3700000
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Reno, NV
Device: Kindle (All), Kobo (Multiple), Sony (most) and Nook Glowlight Plus
|
I have been a volunteer proofreader for a couple of authors so I know how difficult it can be. SOMETHING always seems to sneak through even multiple proofreaders but the errors still bug me when I am reading and spot them. A few per book are fine but I remember books from one technical book publisher (Tab Books) from years ago which were typographical disasters with frequent spelling errors as well as missing and dropped words in sentences. Obviously unedited as well as incompetently typeset.
I find missing words in a sentence or misuse of homonyms to be most annoying. Due to use of spelling checkers simple misspellings are less common than in the past except with poorly edited scanned to digital ebooks. |
![]() |
![]() |
Advert | |
|
![]() |
#138 |
Guru
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 754
Karma: 9209502
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Virginia
Device: Boox Note Air3, Palma, K-Scribe, Eclipsa 2e, & Libra 2, Ipads
|
I really find typos annoying. Yes, they sometimes get through, but they really shouldn't. I'm a visual reader, so 'see' the action in my head when I'm reading. I don't really see the words unless there's a problem. Some small typos I can skim, they're road bumps. Others make me stop, reread, adjust the video in my head, and move on. They're throwing me out, and those are worse.
I think some new authors aren't paying for any editing, depending on family and friends who don't have professional skills. And it shows. And I think some of those authors do go back and make corrections. I've seen a lot of book updates from Amazon on my purchases over the last year or so. I would return a lot more published books with a large number of typos if I could get to reading them within the return time limit. One I just tried to read a few weeks ago I'd saved up, as it sounded great, only to have it throw me out with typos, bad formatting, and every 50th or so quotation mark missing. Too late to return, by a long shot, and no update. So I have no hope that it's been corrected. Bummer. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#139 |
Grand Sorcerer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 5,788
Karma: 103362673
Join Date: Apr 2011
Device: pb360
|
Off topic, but I just have to vent. I just heard a reporter on the PBS news hour use the phrase "irregardless of zip code".
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#140 | |
Gentleman and scholar
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,479
Karma: 111164374
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Space City, Texas
Device: Clara BW; Nook ST w/Glowlight, Paperwhite 3
|
Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
Advert | |
|
![]() |
#141 |
Literacy = Understanding
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 4,833
Karma: 59674358
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: The World of Books
Device: Nook, Nook Tablet
|
"Irregardless" is accepted as nonstandard idiomatic English by the dictionaries and a barbaric word by the pundits. But the bottom line is that it is common in American English and so acceptable to descriptivists and objectionable to prescriptivists.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#142 |
Grand Sorcerer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,310
Karma: 43993832
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Monroe Wisconsin
Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)
|
I think if a book is riddled with typos that it not only becomes very hard to read but it also jars me out of the story. And of course if the author has that many typos I also have to wonder what else might be wrong with the story. I mean granted Isaac Asimov was said to be able to write one draft and have his text almost if not completely perfect, but how many of us are like Dr. Asimov?
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#143 | |
Grand Sorcerer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,310
Karma: 43993832
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Monroe Wisconsin
Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)
|
Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#144 | |
Wizard
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 1,751
Karma: 730681
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Antwerp
Device: Kobo Aura H2O
|
Quote:
Your overall point is of course still valid, since only fairly superficial spelling, grammar, and stylistic issues will be recognized or at least pointed out.[1] But that example might not be the best. [1] Because otherwise you'd get too much noise from false positives. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#145 |
Gentleman and scholar
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,479
Karma: 111164374
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Space City, Texas
Device: Clara BW; Nook ST w/Glowlight, Paperwhite 3
|
Despite my goofy answer, if I heard a reporter use irregardless on PBS of all places, I'd probably complain too.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#146 | |
Gentleman and scholar
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 11,479
Karma: 111164374
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Space City, Texas
Device: Clara BW; Nook ST w/Glowlight, Paperwhite 3
|
Quote:
![]() Just kidding, I do love Isaac Asimov. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#147 |
Still reading
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 14,075
Karma: 105211945
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Ireland
Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper
|
Enid Blyton only used notes for the School series. Never planned. At least not on paper.
Still most of us are more normal people. Blyton and Asimov just used a portable typewriter. I have one. I'd hate to write a page. Also I might have 10 to 30 revisions. I adopted computer screen editing in 1981. I edited programs in the 1970s by hand punching replacement cards. Spelling and Grammar checkers (on CP/M and then MS DOS) from just after the mid 1980s. It's part of why I regard EVERYTHING in the press about AI as mere PR. The Spelling and Grammar checkers have not progressed much, frankly they are rubbish compared to an expert proof reader. Google Translate is brute force and a giant "Rosetta stone". Also I trained to be a programmer originally due to the idea of AI in SF, not realising it's mostly a macguffin. I suspect there is less real AI research now than when I did the last course in the mid 1980s on it. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#148 |
Running with scissors
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 1,587
Karma: 14328510
Join Date: Nov 2019
Device: none
|
From what I see, irregardless is up there with using impact instead of effect/affect, alternate instead of alternative, etc.; we're stuck with it.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#149 |
Still reading
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 14,075
Karma: 105211945
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Ireland
Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper
|
The Asimov "Three Laws" are nothing to do with AI. Purely a mechanism to set up SF themed Detective stories. He later wrote actual Detective short stories. The "Robots" are more like Androids (Though so are the originals in RUR, the play that invented the term) and the computers in the stories then are gigantic machines.
IMO a mistake when he was persuaded to go back to SF writing to write more Foundation books and combine them with the "Robot" books. Caves of Steel is a classic full length SF detective story originally nothing to do with the Foundation Trilogy. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#150 | |
Still reading
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 14,075
Karma: 105211945
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Ireland
Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper
|
Quote:
I have accidentally used "lightening" instead of "lightning", he / her / here, inforce / enforce and nosey / nosy. I type fast. I've now discovered how to edit the built in standard dictionary and removed inforce and nosey as well as few other things never or very rare in British English. It has a US Dictionary too. I practice now by deliberately annotating PD texts off Gutenberg. Often the Kobo dictionary hasn't an older but valid word. It also seems too American. Some modern printed books do have more typos. Last edited by Quoth; 03-18-2020 at 03:16 PM. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Tags |
typographic errors, typos |
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Free (Kindle) Bewildering Cares by Winifred Peck [Vintage WWII Homefront Literary] | ATDrake | Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links) | 0 | 05-30-2017 10:47 PM |
If JK Rowling Cares About Writing, She Should Stop Doing It | jgaiser | General Discussions | 60 | 03-03-2014 01:25 AM |
Amazon Pre-order: A Comedy of Who Cares? | wdi | Amazon Kindle | 19 | 11-23-2011 01:45 PM |
colour eink devices - who cares??? | mpd123 | General Discussions | 47 | 11-07-2011 12:16 AM |
Seriously thoughtful My message to the male population (and anyone else who cares to read) | Spoon Man | Lounge | 22 | 05-31-2010 01:10 PM |