Computers have made us l;azy

The proofreaders are depicted as a rag-tag collection of misfits who spend hours in the tavern immediately before showing up for work and are quite frankly drunk when they settle down to spot typographical errors and other mistakes in the page galleys. This may be an exaggeration, played up by Moore for comic purposes, but there are still a few old-time newspapermen out there who will swear on a stack of old Montreal Heralds that every word of it is true. And yet, looking back over crumbly yellow editions from decades gone by or perusing the pages on microfilm, one thing cannot be denied—newspapers contained much fewer typos back then.

Whether or not proofreaders really were ripped on draft beer, they did manage to catch and correct nearly all misspellings, grammatical errors and other natural enemies of the reporters, who pounded out copy on battered old Royals and Underwoods. To them, Spell-Check and copy-and-paste features were the stuff of science fiction; they did everything manually and produced admirable results.

Still, a few typos did sneak by; a front page from a 1935 Examiner, which we have framed in our office, bears a headline announcing a Rotary Club 'lucheon' meeting. And over the years, Westmounters have read about everything from Lawn Blowing tournaments to Pubic Security patrols.

Today, we have computer technology that would be the envy of any ink-stained editor from that bygone era, and while many of us are eternally thankful for it, some have simply allowed it to make them lazy. Check any website or newspaper and you're almost guaranteed to find at least one typo. Blame it on cuts in editorial staff or sheer laziness, but the typo has ingrained itself as part of modern culture. It is usually harmless, in fact it can be prized as a source of humour. Newspaper awards often have a category for best blooper, and late-night talk show hosts Jay Leno and David Letterman both feature a weekly selection of funny newspaper typos and other unfortunate editorial oversights as part of their Monday-night line-up.

Yes, these little goofs are here to stay, and there isn't mubch we can do about it.