Writing
Those Apricots Undead in Proofing
Today I mourned the massacre of 1400 units of Apricots in Florida. Not saying as a vegetarian, which I am, but a very well-known publication wrote that those apricots were dead. Without naming the publication, since I took a screenshot to let readers believe with their own incredible eyes, the opening line of its story brought death to the apricots by missing a single letter – r.
Screenshot @ Newsweek
Newsweek is one of the leading publications in the United States and in the English speaking world as well. Is it an anomaly to see “died apricots” in a leading news source? The intended meaning should be apparent to any reader who is awake while seeing the lines before him/her, but it’s not a rare thing these days. In an age of AI and who knows how many grammar programs available to writers and editors, the perfectionist reader finds no relief from typos.
It won’t be surprising to see cyber proofreading fall a prey to the same level, if not greater, of human fallibility in catching and fixing typos in today’s digital age. In fact, a study done in 2017 revealed that typos were found across all news sources, including the world’s leading ones, at rates as high as 10 to 15 percent. The study sought to assess the impact of rates of typos on the credibility of the source. The authors concluded that “their influence on perceived credibility is not so straightforward.”
As a proofreader, I am aware of the high level of attention required in ensuring an error-free copy ready for publication. So the point is not to belittle my fellow proofing eyes – whether human or cyber – but the reminder that we all need to work some more to save those apricots from “dying” in news or hoping a friend is “all right” and not “all tight.” The popular proverb The proof is in the pudding may rightfully be rephrased in this case to The pudding can only be served after proofing.
