My editing pet peeve - what's yours?

[Moderator1]

This is from the AP story that is up on the Washington Post Web site:

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Stephen Curry couldn't stop jumping up and down at midcourt at the final buzzer. Little Davidson was on its way to the NCAA tournament's round of 16 after another brilliant performance by its big-time guard.

Curry scored 25 of his 30 points in the second half and Davidson staged a remarkable comeback behind their star sophomore to stun mighty Georgetown 74-70 on Sunday in the second round of the Midwest Regional.
--


Why that chaps my ass as much as it does is beyond reasonable explanation. But it does. AP knows better and my guess is the Post just slapped it up there until it could get its own story ready.
Or is that "their" own story ready?

 

[Chi City 81]

I thought then and than was your big pet peeve.

And to answer your question: Towards. Over vs. more than also grinds my gears. As does said before source. I guess I have a lot of editing pet peeves.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

This is from the AP story that is up on the Washington Post Web site:

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Stephen Curry couldn't stop jumping up and down at midcourt at the final buzzer. Little Davidson was on its way to the NCAA tournament's round of 16 after another brilliant performance by its big-time guard.

Curry scored 25 of his 30 points in the second half and Davidson staged a remarkable comeback behind their star sophomore to stun mighty Georgetown 74-70 on Sunday in the second round of the Midwest Regional.
--


Why that chaps my ass as much as it does is beyond reasonable explanation. But it does. AP knows better and my guess is the Post just slapped it up there until it could get its own story ready.
Or is that "their" own story ready?

I reworked this entire story. We've got no "local horse in the race" so I wanted this to be our lead story in tomorrow's paper. I used a picture from it, too.

But, like I said, I really worked over this story.

 

[Moderator1]

I thought then and than was your big pet peeve.

And to answer your question: Towards. Over vs. more than also grinds my gears. As does said before source. I guess I have a lot of editing pet peeves.

Then/than is very high on my list.
Might be 1A.
Irregardless is up there, too, as is towards.
Question: I know it should be toward. Is it backward or backwards?

 

[Chi City 81]

Backward.

 

[imjustagirl]

I was going towards Indiana, but than their basketball team was moving backwards irregardless.

 

[Chi City 81]

I was going towards Indiana, but than their basketball team was moving backwards irregardless.

 

[forever_town]

Writers who don't have even the most basic grasp of AP style. Misspellings. Commas before and. Two spaces after a period. Basic grammatical errors.

 

[imjustagirl]

We have one beat guy who CONSTANTLY puts in two spaces after a period. Thankfully, our system fixes that automatically.

 

[HandsomeHarley]

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Johnny Smith homered, but it wasn;t enough as the Big Market Bumble****s lost 17-1 to the Kansas City Royals at Surprise Stadium Thursday.

First, there are papers in the central states that care, assholes. You don't write just for the big markets.

Second, NEVER, and I mean ****ING NEVER put two proper nouns side by side!!!!

If you can't rewrite the sentence, use the word "on". It's a simple little word, for Chrissakes.

The guy's name isn't Joe Smith Tuesday. It's Joe Smith and whatever he did, he did it on Tuesday. Is that such a ****ing difficult concept to understand!?

/end rant

 

[SixToe]

My latest among many is a poor photo caption.

There is a photo of a basketball player going up for a layup. No one else is in the frame.

"Susie Sportschick (23) of the SportsJournalists.com Tigers drives for a layup against the Rams."

Really? No ****. Anyone can see that.

Put some effort into it. Tell a reader how many points she scored in the game. Tell a reader how she broke her ankle after landing awkwardly on that layup.

Another is using "right" or "left" to indicate the only man or woman in a photo.

"Coach Johnny Nads, right, starts his 19th season with senior Susie Sportschick returning at point guard."

For crying out loud, he's the only guy in the photo. It's unnecessary unless he looks like "Pat" from Saturday Night Live.
Don't put the obvious because you're too damn lazy to do something other than to use the bad caption provided by the AP or your photographer.


Not using "ly" is annoying, too.

"Johnny got there quick."

No, he got there quickly.

 

[Chi City 81]

My latest among many is a poor photo caption.

There is a photo of a basketball player going up for a layup. No one else is in the frame.

"Susie Sportschick (23) of the SportsJournalists.com Tigers drives for a layup against the Rams."

Really? No ****. Anyone can see that.

Put some effort into it. Tell a reader how many points she scored in the game. Tell a reader how she broke her ankle after landing awkwardly on that layup.

Another is using "right" or "left" to indicate the only man or woman in a photo.

"Coach Johnny Nads, right, starts his 19th season with senior Susie Sportschick returning at point guard."

For crying out loud, he's the only guy in the photo. It's unnecessary unless he looks like "Pat" from Saturday Night Live.
Don't put the obvious because you're too damn lazy to do something other than to use the bad caption provided by the AP or your photographer.

I've come to the realization that most AP photogs have, at best, a passing familiarity with their own organization's style. It makes you appreciate all the more photogs who can write a decent cutline.

 

[mike311gd]

I thought then and than was your big pet peeve.

And to answer your question: Towards. Over vs. more than also grinds my gears. As does said before source. I guess I have a lot of editing pet peeves.

All three of those are at the top of my list. Misplaced prepositions are right up there, along with their/its and who/which.

 

[SixToe]

I hate the word "on" when used with a day or date.

Tuesday is not a coffee table to put something "on."

The Bumble****s lost 49-7 to the Big Boogers in the first conference game of the year Friday at Bumble**** Stadium.

But I see your point about "Joe Smith Tuesday" and that's when a simple rewrite can help.

 

[expendable]

We have one beat guy who CONSTANTLY puts in two spaces after a period. Thankfully, our system fixes that automatically.

That's the one I can't break, no matter how hard I try. See.

As for mine, they're your/you're and its/it's.

 

[forever_town]

I'll add something that I hate about journalism style: The long sentences some writers (I'm included in that number) end up writing in lede grafs in an effort to get a **** load of information into one sentence.

 

[Chi City 81]

its/it's and their/they're/there

And I don't write back people on myspace who use them incorrectly. I'm a grammar snob.

Don't forget plated. :D

 

[JoelHammond]

Basketball, the difference between nouns and adjectives. I hate this. Hate it.

Joel Hammond went 9-of-9 from the field on his way to 24 points and the NBA Finals MVP award in leading the Cavaliers past Phoenix in Game 7.

LeBron James, once again playing second fiddle to Hammond, made only 1 of 9 shots, but hit 14 of 15 free throws to back Hammond.

NOT

LeBron James, once again playing second fiddle to Hammond, made only 1-of-9 shots, but hit 14-of-15 free throws ....

 

[imjustagirl]

We do 1 of 9 from the floor, but 1-of-9 shooting.

 

[the_lorax]

I'd disagree with you, Joel. It should be 1-of-9 shots and 14-of-15 free throws, because they're compound modifiers in that instance.

No they're not. What kind of shots? 1-of-9 shots? That doesn't make any sense. 1-of-9 shooting, on the other hand, is correct.