If You Edit Copy, You Know What I'm Talking About

Is it just me? Or are there others out there who see instantly the bad grammar, misspellings, and punctuation mistakes that make communication unclear? Sometimes I wonder. Take for instance the corporate memo sent to all the employees of a large company. I worked there at the time, and read it with interest. It was during the run-up to all the massive layoffs, and the memo was encouraging discretion. Unfortunately, the spelling was discrete, and not discreet.

I find errors like that in a lot of my reading material, and I frequently wonder about the authors. In today's world, smart and successful don't seem to include the ability to write clearly. Based in the US, my view is likely limited, although I do work globally. I have found it very difficult to edit copy translated from another language, depending on the type of translation service used.

I have to confess to watching a lot of tennis on tv. The global nature of the game appeals to me, and as a tennis player, I understand the game so it's not boring. What fascinates me most, is that most of the tennis players give post-match interviews. they all speak English to a moderate degree, and several of the top 10 players speak, read, and write at least two languages, if not three. I mean, pro tennis players are smart, but their job is to spend as much time on a tennis court as possible, not learning how to edit copy in multiple languages. How is a copywriter able to compete with that?

Quite simply, they aren't, which leads to specialization. And I wonder if that's good for anyone. It reduces the pool of applicants for any job to native speakers, or those with good relationships with a translation service. But how does anyone who writes copy then proof the translated copy? The difference between words like discrete and discreet can only amplify when there is a language that uses intonation and and other punctuation to indicate subtle differences between meanings.