Teal’s Reviews > Lavender House > Status Update

What?

In a book set in 1952, addressing a woman as Ms. Gold.

Maybe it only seems huge to me. But I remember conservative America pitching a collective hissy fit in the 70s over the brand-new innovation of 'Ms.' "How do you even pronounce that?" said as snidely and contemptuously as possible, with utter disbelief that they were being asked to address others in a way different from how they'd done it before. Refer to people differently, simply because they were being asked to, as a courtesy...?! Cue the mockery! Perish the thought! Think of the children!

In other words, it was very much like the current-day hissy-fitting over pronouns.

It didn't even occur to me. That's the horror of writing historical, you've basically got to research every single word you use, ugh. Wikipedia says it's actually much older, 17th century, and there were multiple attempts to revive it in the 20th before the 70s. I expect a lot of the 70s nonsense was because it became associated with feminism. If anybody was using it in the 50s a jewish bisexual nightclub owner is probably as good a candidate as any. :)

I remember seeing that and being like, "Oh dear, lol, no."

Drianne wrote: "I remember seeing that and being like, "Oh dear, lol, no.""

I'm hoping there aren't going to be any more mistakes like that. 🤞🏼

Wow, sharp eyes. I'm currently reading this book too and I passed over this part not even a day ago unawares lol.

Mimi wrote: "Wow, sharp eyes. I'm currently reading this book too and I passed over this part not even a day ago unawares lol."

Oops — sorry to bring it to your attention, then! Unfortunately, whenever I read historical fiction I'm hypersensitive to the presence of anachronisms. If I could turn that part of my brain off, I would. 🫤

Oh, no worries. I don't really pay attention to the actual words on the page when reading which sounds really weird, I know. It's because I "see" images instead of words. So I was picturing the Ms. in question instead of seeing the word as it appeared on the page.

It's really interesting that you catch these things off-hand like that. You'd make a great editor (if you're not one already).

Mimi wrote: "It's really interesting that you catch these things off-hand like that. You'd make a great editor (if you're not one already)."

I think I would make a good editor, at least a copyeditor, because typos leap out at me as if they were printed in neon colors. If there are too many, they can drive me to dnf. 😩

Maybe I could loan you my brain's autocorrect module?

Daniel wrote: "Maybe I could loan you my brain's autocorrect module?"

That would probably crash the whole system. 🤣

I think I would be very insecure as a copyeditor, not just from fear of missing stuff, but from all the "rules" that just seem so incredibly subjective.

Whereas I love that subjectivity, because it supports the flourishing of an author's unique style. A rule-bound copyeditor can be an author's nemesis rather than a helper. KJ Charles once wrote about her experiences with a copyeditor assigned her by a publishing house, and oof — it's a relationship that can really go wrong.

In my version, client publishes their book, gets 17 angry 1 star reviews from people because of some "rule" their third grade teacher told them that I didn't even bat an eye at, and I have to change my name and move to Svalbard.

If it's my writing, then I'm like, rules? there's no rules, from who? the king of language? if the meaning the reader gets from the sentence is the one I intended, mission accomplished, stfu. But taking responsibility for it in someone elses, mmmm, no.