PROOFREADING Eagle eyes What it means to be a proofreader By Mark Dobson, Log Board member When I was a schoolboy, many, many years ago, there was one subject at which I could not do well: English language. I was so poor at it that it took me three attempts to gain a pass at O level, and I think that only occurred because they introduced a grading system that year rather than a simple pass or fail and I came in with a C grade. After that, I was able to leave that subject aside and concentrate on the science subjects at A level that I thought I would need to progress into the world of work. In fact, my favourite subject was probably geography, which may have helped me in my final choice of career as an airline pilot. At least I would have had some idea of where in the world my destinations were, and a good notion about the terrain we were flying over. I am not at all sure when or why I developed an interest in proofreading. It may have been from reading Private Eye while at university, with its continual lampooning of newspaper articles, particularly from the Grauniad which had a reputation for misprints and misspelling. However, the earliest story that I can recall raising my eyebrows came from the Daily Telegraph. It concerned an incident involving a Boeing 727 stalling at altitude and entering a steep, high-speed descent. We pilots would instantly understand the reaction of the pilot, who lowered the landing gear to slow the aircraft down, using the gear as an airbrake for extra drag. But the poor journalist got himself thoroughly confused as he described the pilot using the aircrafts brakes to reduce the speed. A quality read As a member of BALPA, I received the Log three or four times a year, and grew increasingly impatient at the lack of care apparently taken in its production. So much so that I wrote to the then editor, offering my services as a proofreader. I was accepted onto the Board in this capacity around 25 years ago, and I hope that the quality of the magazine has seen some improvement since then. I have now decided that its time to wrap up the red pen and pass it on to another reader. I have enjoyed the work immensely and feel sorry to part company with the Board, but age has crept up on me and I fear that my eyes are not as sharp as they used to be. Just the other day, I upbraided a correspondent for using the word blases, pointing out that this word does not exist in English. It was gently pointed out to me that what she had written was biases. Probably no other language has such a variety of spelling as English. There have been attempts to regularise this in the past, but all to no avail The English language is a very curious animal. Probably no other language has such a variety of spelling. There have been attempts to regularise this in the past, but all to no avail. However, most of us do have a good grasp of English, both written and spoken, and we are used to its idiosyncrasies. Which is just as well, because if we were to write as we speak, we might end up with a sentence such as this (which I have lifted from Bill Brysons The Mother Tongue English and how it got that way): Attempts to simplify and regularize English speling allmost allways hav a sumwut stranj and ineskapubly arbitrary luk abowt them, and ov cors they kawz most reeders to stumbl. It is the proofreaders job to turn a sentence such as this into proper English. Work in progress Originally, the proofreaders job was simply to ensure that what came out of the printing press was identical to the original written word. The first print was called a galley proof. Later, the job description was extended to include inspection and checking of the original document. The copyeditors job is much the same as the proofreaders, but has a more farreaching remit. As well as correcting spelling and grammar, and ensuring that the article is written in accordance with the house style guide (more on this later), he or she makes sure that the facts are correct. For example, the airport 39 miles to the northeast of London is Stansted, not Stanstead, and the capital of Switzerland is Bern (or Berne, either will do) and not Zurich. He or she may also be involved with drawing up the headline and setting up the page. Key to the operation of both these workers is the house style guide. This sets out how an article should look, generally in order to be consistent. The Log has such a guide and this informs us, for example, that words must be spelled according to British English (unless quoting directly from a foreign publication), and that numbers up to nine are written in full and, thereafter, as digits. This guide is not, of course, set in stone, but subject to alteration as circumstances or fashion dictate. The job is very interesting and most entertaining, too. And heres another observation: you will get to see the articles before almost anyone else on the Board! Fancy becoming our proofreader? Email us at Logboard@balpa.org