MISTAKES TO LEARN BY -- MAYBE?

Writing for the Californian was not always a smooth process. In getting copy to print in a correct and prescribed manner, as expected always, there were obstacles that shouldn't have existed.

For example, when I used the common phrase “without portfolio” in its correct context a night copy editor apparently not familiar with the phrase saw fit to add the article “a" and it became in print as “without a portfolio.” I pictured that copy editor as being a young pimply sort ripe for grammatical correctness. That was prior to Internet and spell and grammar correcting programs. Another time I mentioned “Warner Bros. Records,” and I suspect it was a different copy editor who chose to convert “Bros.” To “Brothers.” It is “Warners Bros. Records.” That’s the actual name for the company. But, I guess you’d have to know that. I did and he/she didn’t.  Another time I mentioned about a person being “a fount of knowledge.” With that usage, “fount” is short for “fountain.” I was saying the person in question could spew out a lot of stored knowledge. This time it was my editor, not an unknown to me night editor, who changed “fount” to “font.” I didn’t mind. They are interchangeable words meaning the same thing. At least he knew what he was doing, appropriate to his job. In addition to some editors, I was naive myself in any number of ways. I thought any miscue in spelling or grammar would be thought of by readers as mere typos, a slip of the fingers on the typewriter. I soon found that was not the case. The writer with the byline was the culprit. If my name was there, I did it. That was the painful reality. I must say I was bailed out on a few occasions by the careful eye of a copy editor. I can’t think of any examples however to present. There were some I’m sure. They’re just not as memorable.