(no subject)

[trinityofone]

Dear editors of The Road--

Please turn your attention to page 35 of the first American edition, published by Alfred A. Knopf. The first sentence of the second paragraph reads as follows:

"They ate the little mushrooms together with the beans and drank tea and had tinned pears for their desert."

Really? I mean, I know an apocalypse has occurred, but I wasn't aware that that enables one to remake entire geographical features out of canned food products.

DESERT /= DESSERT! Were you guys all asleep that day? Did something about page 35 make you drowsy? What the hell?

And yeah, I know it's a little thing; I just really don't expect to find major typos in major works of literary fiction that I assume the author, proofreaders, editors, etc. have read more than once. It totally yanked me out of the story, guys!

I guess what I'm saying is, if you are having these problems, maybe you should consider hiring some different people. *coughmecough*

Because I, uh--I never make typos. Or at least I feel really ashamed when I do!

Please try to do better next time. I'm sure Mr. McCarthy would appreciate it, too.

Mildly appalled,

Trin

-----

Seriously, yo. Does anyone else feel, like, really shocked when they come across something that major in a published "literary" work? I mean, I get annoyed when I catch mistakes in some of the trashy sci-fi or fantasy I read, but I should not have to stop 35 pages into The Road to freak out about misspellings. Cannibals, maybe, but I haven't even gotten to them yet.

Alternately, I may just need a lot of therapy and, like, a course of dictionary deprivation.

ETA: Page 89:

"It's okay, he said. We just have to wait. But I think its okay."

You have it right, and then two sentences away, it's WRONG? JESUS CHRIST, PEOPLE! You're totally harshing my post-apocalyptic buzz.

Comments

[blade-girl.livejournal.com]

Does anyone else feel, like, really shocked when they come across something that major in a published "literary" work?

God, yes! It makes me see red to find typos of that magnitude (and really, I see that not as a "little" thing at all; desert/dessert is a very juvenile mistake that we expect high school age people to get right) in any published work.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad it's not just me! I actually had to put the book down and send my mom--a writer and editor who taught me everything I know and thus possibly ruined me for life--a shocked e-mail, and then make this post. I don't think desert/dessert is a little thing either...but then I am among those of us who are INSANELY ANAL about this type of thing. We should totally have regular support group meetings! With doughnuts!

[blade-girl.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, we should have support group meetings, and I can totally get behind the doughnuts. In fact, we could use that as a means of weeding out unworthy members - anyone who brought "donuts" could be ridden out on a rail!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, exactly! I refuse to eat "donuts"! (Um, unless they're Krispy Kremes--and check out that spelling; oy!--in which case I might cave. They taste really good.)

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Wait, although actually, Krispy Kreme spells it "doughnut." I feel totally justified in eating them now!

[sonofzeal.livejournal.com]

Doughnuts? Or donuts?

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I hate "donuts." It's stupid lazy American spelling, like "thru" or "lite." I prefer to use the Canadian/British alternative when possible.

[sonofzeal.livejournal.com]

You might like this (http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blrevocation_cleese.htm) then.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Very much so, thank you!

I actually like a lot of American English. Just not the stupid, lazy, or ugly bits. ("Dialog"? What the hell is that? It looks...icky.) But I favor -ize over -ise, and REALLY hate the travesty Brits are willing to commit by putting periods and commas outside the quotes. THEY GO INSIDE THE QUOTES, PEOPLE! Always!

It's probably a bad sign that I find fights about grammar amusing and fun.

[sonofzeal.livejournal.com]

"Dialog" always looks so stunted to me. I generally don't favor British spelling (although, in the speed of typing, I occasionally add 'u's where you wouldn't expect on this side of the pond), "dialog" looks so incomplete to me that I make it a point to spell it "dialogue."

When I was at Amaze, the programmer who wrote the stuff to make the level scripts work with the game was a Brit. So when we'd write functions for people to use we'd have to figure out how to spell things, and it would often be some sort of compromise. So the "u" would go in, but it would end in "-ize" or some such.

[neery.livejournal.com]

It is a TRAVESTY that Americans put the commas inside the quotes, because hello, the quotes are NOT EVEN A REAL PART OF THE DIALOGUE, they're a grammatical feature so we can hang "he said" at the end. Only periods should ever be inside quotes, and it pains me to have to do it the American way in my fiction (but not enough to put up with the complaining betas instead, sigh.)