Friday, October 3, 2014

Journalistic Conundrum


       Concert honoring John Williams, music-maker extraordinaire.  At the end of the review:


                    "Williams, who is a vigorous 82, has been                                                         lauded for ages.  More celebrations are                                          evitable."


       I made the proofreader's error and figured the word was "inevitable," then...read what was actually there.  Did you fall for the phantom word?  Then see and self-correct while laughing at the mistake in print?  I did.

       But did you wonder whether it was, in fact, a word?  Yes, it is.  This word means "avoidable."

      Now does the context tell you that the intended word was the one that means "unavoidable" (still "vigorous" at "82") or the word we see in print (after all he's been "lauded for ages")? 

       (Also, another example of a word that spell-check would never have questioned.  It's in the dictionary.)

        



No comments:

Post a Comment