Readers

I know the difference between its and it’s— the former is the possessive form of a thing, the latter is a contraction for it is. Yet knowing the difference doesn’t prevent me from using the words incorrectly. Frequently.

A spellchecker doesn’t help. Not until I go wildly astray and overlook the use of a verb, noun or period for 150 words or so will my word processor interject and suggest a rewrite.

I leaned heavily on digital tools to oversee spelling, grammar and such in my first few years in this chair. But it was like using a cod fishing net to catch minnows—the tools worked fine on the big mistakes, but far too many slipped through to the printed page.

than most. Plenty of readers cheerfully and helpfully offered remedial help. Many have offered to lend me their copy of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss’s lament for the decline of punctuation in the English language.

But Pat and Roger offered a more direct intervention. I wasn’t yet ready to admit I had a problem, so I put them off for a while.

Then I badly mangled a famous quotation. Years later, I still can’t look at that issue of the paper.

I needed help. Pat and Roger agreed to come in and proofread the paper each Tuesday. Both are retired journalists from the Toronto Star. Pat was the Letters page editor for Canada’s largest circulation newspaper.

They had an immediate impact. Pages came back to my desk, margins filled with red marks and suggested rewrites. They guarded against sloppy punctuation, awkward sentence construction and unsubstantiated assertions. They rapped my knuckles each week for the use of its and it’s. They moved commas around as though I had thrust them onto the page with a spray, gun.

They also kept watch over the Times for language that might cross the legal line—actionable statements, as Roger calls them. It turns out that libel and defamation is one of the few areas in law in which the defendant is considered liable until they prove innocence. It’s called reverse onus.

Roger, Pat and I have had many vigorous debates about the line between fair and actionable comment. It is too easy, it seems to me, to retreat into meaningless, mushy writing when one fixates on the threat of the sensitive and litigious. This serves no one, least of all our readers. But it is equally crucial that a zealous defence of, or objection to, an idea, initiative, institution or individual be defensible under the rules of law.

Pat and Roger made sure the line was plain and visible. Their experience in this regard was invaluable.

Overall, Pat and Roger have made the Times a better paper. More readable. More fluid. More English.

Sadly, there remain too many punctuation and other errors that slip through. That is a failing, however, entirely of my doing. Red marks alone don’t help unless the indicated change is made and survives to the printed page. We have more to do.

Pat decided a couple of years ago the strain was becoming too great on her eyes. The detailed examination of 28 or more pages each week demands unwavering focus. It had become too much.

Roger stayed on. Pat watched over us—but with a bit more distance. Her input became more directional than prescriptive.

Recently, Roger celebrated a birthday, signalling to him that the time had come to properly retire. We had some cake and wished him well. But the significance the moment took a while to sink in. An important era in the life of the Times had come to an end.

Most recently Mihal Zada and Ramesh Pooran have gamely stepped in to provide this gatekeeper role. Their contributions have been extremely helpful; their insight and attention to detail have made the paper better.

But Pat and Roger will always be among the folks I rely on to remind me why we do this each week—why we must continue to strive to do better for our readers.

Proper punctuation and spelling isn’t about following rules for their own sake, but rather about communicating clearly, logically and effectively. In the end, it is about how best to share stories and ideas with our readers. Pat and Roger remind me of this each and every week. Thank you.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca