Tuesday, December 13, 2016

The Copy Editor Strikes

   Spell check programs are useful things, but they are no substitute for knowledge. Any copy editor worth the title will likely find an error in any newspaper on any given day. Or on their web sites.
   Today's example comes from the Business Page of the New York Times, where an economics writer referred to "well healed donors" to a politician.
   Nope. The phrase does not refer to medical progress, but to shoes, as in "well heeled." The origin goes back to the 18th Century, when rich folks could afford to have their shoes repaired regularly as the wooden heels wore down. Unlike the poor, who were known as being "down at the heels."
   Second example comes from the NYT web site, which named the oil company "Exxon Mobile." Other than providing fuel for fast-moving vehicles, the second part of the company name is Mobil.
   No "e," if you please, squire.

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