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Show 'Lorraine Nelson A Biography ." |5 loan business. Rarely did my appointments last long enough for the loathesomeness of my duties to sink in too deeply. I took the assignment at DDS in the summer of 2001 because my wife and I needed the money. Jennifer was spending the summer in South America preparing for her Ph.D. language requirement. Regrettably, I lack the ambition necessary for the serious accumulation of wealth. What I most wanted was a job that would overwork me and pay me just enough to keep me in the abject poverty befitting a thirty-year-old grad student. What I got was a forty-hour work week copy-editing mailers and broadsides. DDS focuses largely on proprietary schools-computer techs, HVAC training centers, business institutes, nursing programs-encouraging those on its mailing lists to enroll, extend their education. My job was to catch the gaffs and goofs that periodically showed up on the copy before each advertisement found its way to the print shop out back. The procedure was predictable and humorless: each job was checked thrice for errors; problems were identified and corrected in black permanent-marker; and error-free proofs were checked, initialed by the copyeditor, and sent to the press shop out back for printing. Like the engines which fire our present language though, I found these botches surprisingly inventive and unexpectedly funny. The inadvertent miscue could generate genuine surprise. Have you ever dreamedof eating your friends 'pets? a pamphlet promoting a veterinary assistant program queried. Our supervisor, Tina, held the tri-fold glossy sheet up for us to inspect at one of our staff meetings. This was standard routine for these weekly gatherings; Tina would seat herself at one end of the boardroom table and sincerely, soberly, with brows duly knitted, bungled pamphlet in hand, intone her mantra: READING is the biggest part of proofreading, people. Then she'd point out the error again -just in case anyone missed it. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be "Treating, "people-not "eating. " Tina had this annoying habit of calling us "people" when she was correcting us. I'm pretty sure she meant it to sound condescending. |