Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Proofreader's Emendation


       Reading today's newspaper over the air, as I do every other Wednesday for the blind and print-impaired, I came across this sentence:  "Upon taking the helm at Microsoft, Nadella instantly becomes one of the most influential Indian business leaders in the..." the next word was "word," but I recognized it must be "world" and changed it on the spot before the mistake got out of my mouth and into the listener's ear.

       We've heard of "proofreader's error" when  a proofreader just doesn't notice a missing letter because the mind knew what should be there and filled it in (and spell-check can't catch this kind of error), so the mistake goes by and is permitted.  What shall I call what I did to restore the missing letter?

       I'm calling it "proofreader's [spell-check's?] emendation." 

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