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   rec.arts.sf.composition      The writing and publishing of speculativ      144,800 messages   

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   Message 143,474 of 144,800   
   J.Pascal to Jacey Bedford   
   Re: Question - Page Proofs   
   01 Sep 14 21:14:16   
   
   From: julie@pascal.org   
      
   On Monday, September 1, 2014 8:11:42 PM UTC-6, Jacey Bedford wrote:   
   > On 01/09/2014 20:09, J.Pascal wrote:   
   >    
   > > On Monday, September 1, 2014 6:02:05 AM UTC-6, Jacey Bedford wrote:   
   >    
   > > (...)   
   >    
   > >> The copy edit picked up mainly punctuation, but also Americanised my   
   >    
   > >>   
   >    
   > >> British English, so I acquired a few gottens and a lot of -ize endings   
   >    
   > >>   
   >    
   > >> as well as discovering that there is no word in the USA equivalent to   
   >    
   > >>   
   >    
   > >> the British 'boffin'. (We ended up with 'scientist' but that really   
   >    
   > >>   
   >    
   > >> doesn't cover it.)   
   >    
   > >   
   >    
   > > *Sigh*  That's because in the US we say "boffin".   
   >    
   > >   
   >    
   > > -Julie   
   >    
   > >   
   >    
   > My (American) editor didn't think boffin was an American word and asked    
   >    
   > me to change it. Oh dear.   
   >    
      
   I won't say it's not slightly obscure, just that it's less of a Britishism   
   than "loo" or "boot".   
      
   If your editor was an English major instead of a science nerd, it's   
   understandable.  It's also possibly on a list of "British slang" for   
   copy-editors and would get tagged.  The "copy-edit" world seems concerned   
   about that sort of thing. It seems to me,    
   though, that as long as the word doesn't have a *different* meaning, it   
   shouldn't matter.  (I understand that "table the issue" means complete   
   opposites one side of the Pond to the other.)   
      
   -Julie   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)   

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