Remember when you spelled Mississippi by singing a quick tune so you won’t forget any letters? Or that striking typo from the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997 where a checklist of Harry’s to-be-purchased equipment listed “1 wand” twice? This edition, with the error in them, is extremely uncommon… and worth a significant amount of money. Who would have imagined that a simple error could be so lucrative? There’s a lot to be said about errors in the publishing world, but you wouldn’t want to get embroiled in a typo fiasco, so it’s worth double-checking written work.
Before the dawn of autocorrect and spell checks, many of us proofread documents before sending them over to a recipient. Even then, we might miss words and cringe when the mistake dawns on us. In ancient times, many books were handwritten. When an error is spotted, scribes would cross them out or scrape the text out with a knife.
Modern proofreaders, on the other hand, have more straightforward methods at their disposal. Today, our computers notify us of misspelled words with a red underline. Even our phones are handy spell-checkers (hello auto-correct and predictive text).
Proofreading seems to be a thing of the past because our gadgets do everything for us. Or is it? Proofreaders are invaluable even in our modern times. They make sure books and other reading materials are error-free. Nothing can replace their experience, skills, and subjectivity.
Every book or document, such as a health organizer and medication tracker, deserves accuracy and careful attention to detail. As we celebrate National Proofreading Day, let’s show our gratitude to proofreaders who embody these qualities.