The Chicago Reader’s Michael Miner made a great catch for the annals of copyediting. He notes
in his Hot Type column:
A couple of misplaced commas in an April 20 New York Times editorial
transform a solemn tone into a haughty one: “There is no reason to expect any change, of course,
for the church when it comes to matters like birth control, priestly celibacy or
homosexuality.”
That’s a beauty.
Punctuation also counts for Leon (“He’s Our Calvin Trillin”)
Freilich, but so does rhyme. Here’s his latest:
E-GRAPEVINE
Word of mouth
Has begun to ebb,
Superseded
By word of web.
PUBLIC SAFETY ANNOUNCEMENT
Orgies are banned -—
Too much of a crowd
For a one-night stand —
But
three’s allowed.
Postscript: The Pacific holiday is over.
