Know what you're writing about

A column written for Wisconsin Rapids' GO section had a historical goof. The column was about the Glenn Miller Orchestra coming to Rapids. The writer said Glenn Miller joined the Army in 1938. No so. He started his successful civilian band in 1938, which he disbanded when he joined the Army in the fall of 1942. The only reason I know this is because I'm a big Glenn Miller fan. But what if the copy editor knew little about Glenn Miller? How would he or she know whether anything the writer wrote was correct or not? (OK, this is more for the reporters, but I hope they look at this from time to time.)

And for the record, the Army was known as the Army Air Force during World War II.

City names

Two Wisconsin cities tend to be misspelled when it comes to press releases and the like: La Crosse and Fond du Lac. Many spell La Crosse as one word, while the D on Fond is left out.

Urban legend?

Once, after typing in an obituary into the system, the copy editor added the following note at the bottom for the other editors to see: I know this reads like (blank), but that's how the (blank) of a funeral director wants it to read. And, yes, the blanks do replace what you think they do.

This obituary made it into print, complete with the copy editor's note.

Muphry's Law (sic)

Something I came across this morning that I had to share: Muphry's Law gives a name to conventional copy desk wisdom.

What's in a name?

Like two, to and too, Wisconsin has Menomonie, Menomonee and Menominee. Menomonie is a city in western Wisconsin, home to UW-Stout. Menomonee is a river in Milwaukee and the name of a Milwaukee suburb, Menomonee Falls. Menominee is the county north of Shawano County.

Proofs

Lately, the night desk has been finding several dayside proofs left for us over the weekend. This past Saturday, there were almost a dozen. I understand that with furloughs, people's job expectations have changed and expanded.

Beginning next week, there are 4 people scheduled every Friday on night desk. Please, whoever is proofing pages during the day Friday, continue to do so. If you are working on night desk on Friday night, please make sure that all proofs are looked at before you leave Friday, with 4 of us, it should be doable. It's just a bit much for 2 people to do on Saturday with the normal pages.

Basically, I'm asking that night desk copy editors make sure all day side proofs are edited and to Dan before Saturday. Make sure to check the round table. Thanks!

--Kristy

Double check addresses

I just had an important reminder about the need to confirm addresses. In Wednesday's restaurant review, Brokaw Corners address was listed as 17550 County Road W. Something in my gut said that address was wrong. After checking it out, it turns out the address is T7550 County Road W. T as in town of Texas.

As former Daily Herald managing editor Joel Christopher told me, "If your gut tells you something is wrong, trust your gut."