Misleading sentence in review

P

payasam

a.k.a. Mukul Dube
Local time
6:25 AM
Joined
Sep 16, 2005
Messages
4,445
From review of Zeiss Ikon in Shutterbug:

"Shutter speeds are 1 second to 1/2000 sec + B, sync at 1/125, clockwise for faster, like all Bessas and all Leicas except the M6 TTL and M7."

I'd have been fooled if I didn't know better. Goes to show that writers (I am one) need editors (I am one).
 
Wasn't it a Montana State Law that said it's illegal to carry guns on a highway except for the purpose of killing a wild animal or a policeman on duty?

Cheers,
Uwe
 
Didn't know about that one, Uwe, but there's a book called Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Or else there's no comma in the title, on which all hinges.
 
I used to check the front page box at the Plain Dealer, and between editions, one of the Linotype operators left the "L" out of clock, in "Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight", and not only did I get to hear "Stop the Presses", -- all the trucks had to be called back, page one was re-plated, and a lot of papers thrown out. Someone had slipped it in after I made the corrections. Fortunately the evidence clearing me in this case was in the first edition's box which was correct.

Folks used to really look for these opportunities, you never wanted to use "pen and is" separated only by a space. ;-)

Regards, John
 
Editors lamentably seldom check facts or even grammar, and lamentably often try to impose their own prejudices.

A good editor is beyond rubies. The other sort...

Then again, I'm not sure what the complaint is. The comma after faster? All I can plead is that I've just driven 300 km in a 1972 Land Rover and had dinner with my wife and daughter with at least my share of 3 bottles of fizz.

Tashi delek,

R.
 
I'm still trying to understand how the Miami Herald editors slipped up on a Sunday cover of their Tropical Life section. Check it out on my blog www.thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com on the January 10, 2009 posting titled "My Birthday Greeting from The Miami Herald". I don't know how else you could possibly pronounce that word...LOL
 
This is the complaint, this might have fooled me:

"Shutter speeds are 1 second to 1/2000 sec + B, sync at 1/125 ... like all Bessas and all Leicas except the M6 TTL and M7."

Matter of sentence construction.
 
"Shutter speeds are 1 second to 1/2000 sec + B, sync at 1/125, clockwise for faster, like all Bessas and all Leicas except the M6 TTL and M7"

could be interpreted in 2 ways:

1) ALL features (shutter speed, sync and clockwise) are like all Bessas and all Leicas, except the M6 TTL and M7.

OR

2) Only the "clockwise for faster" is like all Bessas and Leicas.


Either the writer didn't know any better or he was just lazy.
 
OK; omit comma after 'clockwise for faster'. But I don't think many people who are interested in Leicas are likely to be fooled -- which is why I wrote it that way, without worrying about a possible misinterpretation -- and I'd suggest that the chance of an editor noticing this are negligible.

And as the old saying goes, "If you never made a mistake, you never made anything."

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks writes much clearer English than 99% of the people on RFF.

I just wish that 'camera reviews', and 'car tests' and the rest, told us how the reviewer found the experience rather than which knob does what.
 
Roger Hicks said:
OK; omit comma after 'clockwise for faster'. But I don't think many people who are interested in Leicas are likely to be fooled -- which is why I wrote it that way, without worrying about a possible misinterpretation -- and I'd suggest that the chance of an editor noticing this are negligible.

And as the old saying goes, "If you never made a mistake, you never made anything."

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...


Dear Roger,

I think that should be ... 'chance of an editor noticing this is negligable.'

Regards ... Keith. :angel:
 
I suppose knowing that Leica reversed the direction of the speed dial in M Leicas, to the bane of some, is well enough known to the intended readership to create a clear assumption of intention.

Failing that, in retrospect a period in place of a comma might have served to better simplify several concepts. However the modifying phrase, more obvious to some, refers to what is immediately before it. I also knew the statement did not refer to Bessas of all vintages.

I do not pretend to know the state of mind nor question the knowledge of the author based upon such a slight misinterpretation.

Many seem to have more serious, and humorous transgressions easily come to mind. I suppose I could submit this to Leno's "Monday Nights' Headlines", however only one of his assistants uses M Leicas to my knowledge, and they are evidently yet mulling my last submission.

Commonly, what passes for style and grammar in print or other current media is far inferior to anything I have seen of Roger's.

Having worked around a dozen copy editors working in concert, this slightly unclear intention would have required at least one with a far more than passing knowledge of the subject matter rather than a correction to a style book interpretation. I am going to guess the editors will not issue a correction in upcoming issues.

For news, we were told to write to the level of fifth grade reading.

Perhaps short sentences, lots of spaces, and more paragraphs can be utilized to create a universal "modern" style, albeit a rather boring one.

Perhaps the poke in the ribs was a bit harder than intended in the last post's final sentence, I believe the post without it was sufficient, unless the intention was not to elucidate but rather to offend?

The elucidation was welcome to me.


Regards, John
 
Seems as if I took too long to post. ;-) I guess the wait for my editor to proof read my copy was to blame. Getting to the point that instant is not fast enough. Hope he caught my mistakes ;-)

Regards, John
 
Forget the shutter speed dial thing.

Is it really possible to drive 300km in a 25 year old Land Rover and then drink three bottles of champagne?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top