On page 137 of the hardbound version of Misquoting Jesus, I think you have a typo or a very unusual usage. Can you tell me which this is? : “…Jesus does not come off as the…good shepherd of the stain-glassed window.” I have seen this last compound adjective rendered only as “stained-glass,” not the other way around, so I’m left wondering if this was a simple proofreading error on your part or an intentional coinage.
In a book noting many scriptural mistakes, this is a fine example of how such mistakes can be innocently made (if my guess is correct) despite many chances to note the error and correct it.
I remember a manual of Catholic theology giving as an analogy for the Catholic teaching that sin is inevitable (though each individual sin is avoidable) that no matter how many people proofread a book, there will always be corrigenda.
I’m also reminded of a meme saying the way to find errors in your articles is to painstaking read it multiple times over several months looking for different sorts of errors on each read-through, circulate it to your academic friends, have the text professionally copy-edited, have the journal editor go over the finished copy, have a proofreader go over the typeset galleys, and once it is published casually open it to a random page.
Because of my short attention span, I often read a text backwards, each paragraph is read forwards, but I start with the last paragraph.
Is the idea that you want to start with the conclusion and slowly work backwards to see how they got there? If so, I do something like that too pretty frequently.
I don’t usually copy-edit backwards. I understand the theory, and it seems reasonable, I just don’t do it because it is tedious.
Then again, I have more than once opened a newly published article and immediately found an error, so maybe I should be reading my stuff backwards.
>> Is the idea that you want to start with the conclusion and slowly work backwards to see how they got there? If so, I do something like that too pretty frequently.
I think the theory of reading backwards, as an editing technique, is that reading backwards breaks the flow, so you (as the author) are not reading what you meant to say next, but you are more likely to read each sentence as written. When you have been painstakingly finessing a text for months, it is easy to fall into what is basically skimming so that you see what you meant to say next without really reading what you actually wrote.
By reading backwards I mean each word in order only backwards, like reading a sentence backwards. It’s immensely tedious and I wouldn’t do it often, but sometimes it’s just good to vary up technique. It’s mostly useful to catch spelling typos and awkward sentence structure. I like the idea of reading from the bottom up a paragraph at a time, though. That seems useful for getting the point in summary, and then, dealing with the particulars.
I think everyone who does any kind of textual analysis has had the experience of staring at the page so long you just cannot see it anymore. And having a statement interpreted contrary to your actual intent.
True communication is difficult under the best circumstances. Sorry to make this personal but I’ve had the pleasure ( and difficulty) of working with a polyglot group of folks over the years. Africans, indians, Vietnamese, Chinese, Hispanics, New Yorkers. I hope I did right by them. I certainly learned a lot! This is a bittersweet season. I won’t miss the stress or the alarm clock but some of these people I’m leaving I won’t ever forget. It makes me sad that so many Americans are terrified of anyone different than themselves.
When do you depart for the darkest corner of South America?
Don’t think I haven’t thought about it. That would be ** you do not have permission to see this link **, “darkest” in this context being defined as least known place to get lost in.
Thanks for the kind wishes.
As a lifelong astronomy enthusiast I have dreamt of stargazing under the darkest remaining night skies on earth which would include such places as the Atacama desert in Chile, the White desert in Egypt, NamibRand Nature Reserve in Namibia, and the Yaeyama Islands in Japan. I doubt I will get to them all but any would serve as an opportunity for adventure.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
1 Guest(s)