Howlers in Print

These are some of the kinds of mistakes I look for when I line edit—and you should look for them too, when line editing your own work. These are all from actual, published books and magazines. Not bad books, or amateurish books either. Some are really good books, so good that it hurts to run across these mini-howlers. Everyone goofs now and then, but someone should have spotted these before they made it into print.

Have a look and see if you catch the error in each line. Answers below.

By the way, none of these are from work I've edited. What happens at BKEdits stays at BKEdits.

1.         Michael Madoff's audacious Ponzi scheme...

2.         "nine for the price of ten" loyalty cards...seduce customers to buy more

3.         ... called her uncle in the middle of the afternoon balling like a child.

4.         I'm bored, you see, towing the line.

5.         [Her] connection with the earth was tenable, at best. Already she was faltering.

6.         The ocean below him may have seemed endless, but [he] knew it would only be a matter of minutes before Australia rushed into view

7.         .. [the presence of] the voices inferred there was still time

8.         ...but someone breeched that point of entry.

9.         She heard the ladder creek behind her...

10.       has the beauty that Renaissance painters liked: fulsome with long red hair.

11.       But it was only a moment before she honed in on destroying the detective and his testimony.

So, what's the problem?

1.         Should be Bernard Madoff. Plain factual error, a brain typo.

2.         Nine for the price of ten? Some loyalty card!

3.         Kids do play with balls, but bawling, (crying) is what's meant here.

4.         Should be 'toeing the line.' To 'tow' something is to pull it, like towing a car.

5.         Probably meant to be a 'tenuous,' connection. A tenuous connection is a flimsy,thin one; a tenable argument or plan is a reasonable one.

6.         Should be, 'The ocean below him might have seemed endless.' The past tense of 'may' is 'might.'

7.         Should be, 'implied there was still time.' A person or event may imply something, but it is the person who notices the implication who does the inferring. 'Should I infer from the look on your face that you're not happy?'

8.         Should be 'breached that point of entry,' 'Breech,' refers to trousers (a pair of breeches) or buttocks (breech birth). To break a barrier, or make a gap in a wall, is to breach it.

9.         Should be creak. The noise is a creak; the stream is a creek.

10.       Hard to tell. Probably should be full-bodied. 'Fulsome' means either copious or overdone and tasteless, like fulsome praise.

11.       Should be homed in. You 'hone' a knife to sharpen it. (Merriam-Webster Online is much more tolerant than I would be about this one.)