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[jaydub]

One of my favourite pastimes is reading fiction of various gravities.  Finding myself short anything new to read, I borrowed a book of my wife's that she got from a book club.  Merits of the story aside, I've found the number of misspellings really distracting.  They're pretty egregious too - things like spelling the vodka, Ketel One, as Kettle One.  I mean, if you're going to go out of your way to specify a premium brand to increase verisimilitude, don't you think you'd spell it correctly?  It seems like such a Hunt's move: all serving a cheesesteak on Wonder Bread to a Philly native (or such-like).

[robot_god]

Of course not, how could you write about something if you don't even know the most basic thing about it?  The major problem is that you'll feel like you were more qualified to write it than the author.

[Sub_Topical]

Shit like that takes me right out of a story and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I rarely re-crack the book after that.

So yeah, such a Hunt's move.

[AugustWest]

Are you sure it's not intentional?  It could have been done for humorous effect, or for trademark reasons.

[wombat]

That one is an obvious editing error, because if you type Ketel into MSWord and then run the spellchecker it gives 'kettle.'  And if you inattentively hit the wrong button, you replace it.

I find that proofreading of books is very sloppy nowadays - it's not uncommon to find several errors like this - computer-caused or missed because they are the kinds of the things spell check won't catch - "too" for "to" and so on.

[CortJstr]

Are you sure it's not intentional?  It could have been done for humorous effect, or for trademark reasons.

I think you can use product names inside of a book without fear, it's only the book title that's considered a product. Or at least that's why TMBG had to rename their song Nyquil Driver to A.K.A. Driver but could say Nyquil in the lyrics all they wanted. Although now that I think about it they left the lyrics for that song out of the liner notes.

[jaydub]

No, the author dropped other names, like Prada, Versace, etc - and proper names for politicians for that matter (used in a fictional context).  No, like Wombat noted, it just struck me as editorial sloppiness.  I sort of hope it was a spell-check screw-up, which strikes me as not necessarily being the author's fault. 

[littlefallsmets]

Moreover, I am similarly as bugged when... in a science-fiction novel... they make up new words for things, just to sort of make up new words. It pulls me right out of the experience of reading, even if the book is great.

I mean, if you're having the characters talk in a different language, that's fine, that's one thing. Less valid but acceptable in rare cases would be when you need, for the purposes of plot and characterization, show that slang has developed over time and influence. But please use that sparingly.

But when your third-person narration needs a new word for "spaceship" and "food" and "money" just to sort of remind us that we're reading a science-fiction novel... Christ, it just kills me and pulls me out of the experience.

Similarly?

When someone is going to swear and "friggin" or "flippin" is inserted? I want to strangle someone. Oh GOD, when something is dubbed OVER to cover the swear! Why? Why? I mean, okay, I get it, there are religious motherfuckers with bugs up their asses and if you wanna get your work out there, you have to compromise.

That's fine, a book or a television show or a movie is at least as much commerical craft as it is art, I am fine with that.

But do we have to be goddamned children about it?

Do we have to "make up a new word" for it?

If your work would be so crippled commercially by swearing, can't you... in a book, just write "----" for "fuck"? Or put in a big black rectangle? Or, less diggable but still preferable, the ol' *@!@%$?! thing? Do we have to be children and say "flurk" or whatever the hell they say on Battlestar?

In a song, do we really really have to backwards-mask or drop in a new word to sanitize for Clear Channel? Can't you just make a mix where the swear word is dropped and the music continues undernear?

On a teevee show, can't you fuckin' just blank out the word? Or EVEN just beep it?

Who in the chain of censorship command decided that we have to say "doody" and "weewee" instead? Aren't you protecting children MORE by blanking out the word entirely while impugning the message of the work less?

Arrrrgh. This is a pet peeve of mine.

[CortJstr]

The best way to protect children is to change all instances of swearing to slurs against other religions. Like "holy cow" or "sweet blood shitting Budda"

[Nabubrush]

No, the author dropped other names, like Prada, Versace, etc - and proper names for politicians for that matter (used in a fictional context).  No, like Wombat noted, it just struck me as editorial sloppiness.  I sort of hope it was a spell-check screw-up, which strikes me as not necessarily being the author's fault. 

It probably is a spell-check screw-up, which means that the publishing house apparantly couldn't give a shit about editing. That's pretty fucked up, right there.

[RMJ12345]

My dad's a writer of large, practically encyclopedic books about baseball, and I remember his mentioning their messing up various players' names. Flipping through his books, I always notice typos.

He's a fairly well-known author publishing with big houses, so you'd think they would be pretty careful about that kind of thing, but apparently not.

[littlefallsmets]

My dad's a writer of large, practically encyclopedic books about baseball

Good Christ, your dad has an awesome job. After my perennial top two best jobs ever, running an animated sitcom and being a rock star, I definitely think that the third coolest job in the world would be writing books about baseball.

Tell your dad that a total stranger thinks his job is the third-most-awesome job ever.

He will probably be flattered and also a little weirded out.

[RMJ12345]

I think the best job ever is internet cartoonist. Dad's job is the fourth-best.

[Doc]

Yeah I think it comes down to the proofers not really caring as much as the author so stuff gets screwed up.

LFM is totally correct on made up words, this is what killed the star wars movies for me (although I do sometimes enjoy the made up swear words, they can be fun).

The best way to protect children is to change all instances of swearing to slurs against other religions. Like "holy cow" or "sweet blood shitting Budda"

If you've ever seen the Bullshit episode on 'humbug' you'll know there are people who think this is an acceptable alternative.
'Instead of saying "I swear to God", I like to say "I swear to Buddha".'
Because that'll never offend anyone.
People make me cry.

[littlefallsmets]

I think the best job ever is internet cartoonist. Dad's job is the fourth-best.

Well, in a perfect world, being an internet cartoonist can lead to my number one dream job, running an animated sitcom, so... our opinions are not so far apart.

Obi-Wan Kenobi voice: From a... certain point of view.