The Gneech Would Be Proud

[rowyn]

I'm testing this new system for opening accounts online for one of our banks. My main contribution to this project has been picking grammatical and typographical nits and locating broken links.

I'm checking the FAQ, which I noticed at least four errors in the last time I looked.

This time I notice that it's using two en dashes instead of em dashes, and one hyphen instead of an em dash.

...

"It's an en dash! 99% of the people in the world do not know the difference between an en dash and an em dash! You have to look it up every time. And style guides differ on how to use them. Just let it go."

"... but later in the same document it uses an em dash correctly. So on one page it's got en dashes, hyphens, and em dashes all serving the exact same purpose."

... I tried to let it go. I really did. But I can't. It has to at least be consistent.

Comments

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

*cries into his IBM Selectric*

-TG *bzaaap*

[nkcmike.livejournal.com]

I get tired of those who don't know good typography, and then denigrate those of us who do when we insist on doing it correctly.

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know I'm being picky when I spellcheck, say, a private email, but when it's something that's going to be published, in hardcover ... I demand to be taken seriously! ;D Like, this is going to be in print! Failing to put some effort into consistency is like, oh, I dunno, showing up for a formal wedding reception in a stained T-shirt and torn-up jeans and flip-flops? Some folks just would not care, of course, but I think it's a shame not to put in a decent effort where it's going to be in print at least.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Inconsistent? No, surely they could never make a mistake - the documentation is never wrong, you know -- except in cases where errors are intentional, for ironic purposes! *nods wisely*

[wildcard-47.livejournal.com]

Ha, I have this conversation with myself every time I write. I'm prone to using a lot of dashes and they never seem to format correctly in Word. Even though I don't like reformatting them, I'm OCD about consistency, too, and I always end up doing it anyway. ;) So I'm glad you've got the bases covered re: official banking webpages.

Also, on a funny note, I definitely thought your title said "Grinch" instead of "Gneesh" at first glance. LOL.

[kagetsume.livejournal.com]

wHo neds grammar and spEelLing?!? Is for WeAK!

-- Kagetsume
(Now hiding from the mallet of doom.)

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the thing. I do proofreading for people who use entirely different "style guides" (some of whom are on the other side of the Atlantic), so I have to swallow my pride on a number of points and not change everything to what I think is "correct."

However, there's just nothing right about it when it's not consistent within the same document. I don't CARE which way it is, as long as it STAYS that way throughout the document. Two hyphens here, a long em-dash there, a short en-dash separated by spaces over there ... AUGH!

I ran this scenario by Becky, the head word processing specialist here, and she sympathized. "I don't care which they use," she said, "just as long as it's consistent."

[rowyn]

Yes! If it had used hyphens instead of dashes everywhere, with no spaces around them, I would have gritted my teeth and said nothing (probably), even though it would look awful as well as being wrong by pretty much everyone's style guide. But inconsistency in a single document that's maybe 1000 words total? Guh.

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Oh, but that's a special pet peeve of mine-using a hyphen instead of an en-dash or em-dash, without any spaces-like this-quite possibly in the same sentence in which hyphens are used in the normal way.

I have run into that several times at my workplace-and I have no idea what possesses people to think that this actually looks readable on a page. ;)

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

(In the previous example, my first reaction is to read this as having such strange pair words as "mine-using," "spaces-like," "this-quite," and "workplace-and.")

[rowyn]

I could read it with no processing errors, but I didn't really want to. >:)