Reader Advocate: Proofreaders go way of green eyeshades

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Scholars refer to the English language as one that shifts and changes with the time, but it shifts and changes too much for one reader who e-mailed this to me:

"Nobody expects perfection from the media these days. However, some of the errors in the Trib lately are just too much to ignore. Wednesday, the article about the tire shop referred to 'breaks,' meaning the things that stop a car.

"Thursday, in the Outdoors section, a caption mentioned a 'sight,' rather than a site. Obviously, spell checkers can't make up for lack of education. Didn't there used to be something called a proofreader?

"Although gender is a grammatical term, it has been misused so long, in place of the proper term, sex, that I don't doubt that current dictionaries will approve of it.

"What does it mean when someone says they feel 'badly'? Are their fingers numb?

"Truly, English is a dying language."

Not a dying language, dear reader, but in some instances a tortured one.

Back in the days when reporters hunt-and-pecked their stories out on manual and then electric typewriters, newspapers did employ proofreaders. And, they were fierce visages indeed.

If the same reporter made the same mistake twice (and, believe me, they knew if the reporter had made the mistake once), these proofreaders thought nothing of charging across the newsroom and correcting the imbecile once and for all. That action alone cut down on the repeat offenders.

But when computers went online in newsrooms, they were supposed to negate the need for proofreaders. Apparently they have not.

Computers only work if the operators use spell-checkers and online dictionaries to check their spelling and word use. Or, in the grand tradition of newsrooms across the country, reporters can turn to their mates in the next cubicle and ask, "How do you spell 'sight' if you really mean a place where you are going to locate a building?"

And, the use of adverbs and adjectives is a whole other problem. If someone feels badly, he or she either has not developed good technique for touching things or does not know an adverb from an adjective. (Here's a hint: If it ends in "ly" it is probably an adverb.)

This kind of stuff drives me nuts, too.

Perhaps printing this e-mail will remind reporters and editors that it's better to look dumb momentarily while asking your office mate a question than to look dumb to thousands of readers when they peruse the paper.

Kirby crass: I thought that most readers understood the reason we run Robert Kirby's columns, but apparently this woman does not:

"I love Robert Kirby's columns, but I was offended by his use of the 'F' word (not that 'F' word) in Monday's column regarding kids selling door to door.

"He talked about buying a candle that smelled like 'Easter Bunny f@#ts.' That is a disgusting word that is supposed to be so funny, but it turns my stomach.

"And lest you think I am being oversensitive, I know many people who feel the same. I know Mr. Kirby is not always a classy guy, which is why I love reading him, but to me this was a poor choice of words.

"Even if he had said Easter Bunny poop instead that would not have bothered me in the least. It is certainly better than the lesser known 'F' word that he chose."

We run Kirby because he is funny. He writes a humor column. If he tried to write serious columns on foreign policy, we would not be interested. Personally, I know Kirby is foreign-policy ignorant.

When I sent this e-mail to Kirby for comment, he wrote back:

"Thanks for the best laugh I've had all week."

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* The Reader Advocate's phone number is 801-257-8782. Write to the Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, 90 S. 400 West, Suite 700, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101. reader.advocate@sltrib.com.