Editing

From Jeremy Wagstaff's Loose Wire:

I only recently realised, for example, that I’ve always been saying 'esconced' for some reason. Only yesterday did I find out it should be 'ensconced', as I’m sure you all know. (Well, maybe not all of you: There are more than 5,000 sites where the word 'esconced' is used. But you're right to laugh at me.)

This doesn't stop me having my bugbears. I once nearly got myself fired for suggesting to his face that the then head of the multinational news organisation I was working for was using the word 'enervated' incorrectly, and that it meant the opposite of how it sounded. (It means 'lacking energy'.)

Then I noticed a couple of newspapers recently have misspelled 'loath' as 'loathe'. Loathe is the verb, loath is the adjective. I am loath to point such a thing out, but loathe it when I see the words misused.

I must stop being an editor. Two things happen: You quickly turn into a pedant, while at the same time realising that you knew far less about the English language than you thought you did.

You can (or should it be may?) read "The Humiliation of Being an Editor" by clicking here.