Il barbaro

Carol Fisher Saller è senior manuscript editor alla University of Chicago Press e editor della sezione Q&A del Chicago Manual of Style Online; è quindi l'equivalente di un redattore editoriale nostrano per un importante editore, uno del calibro di Bollati Boringhieri, Giuffrè, Treccani, UTET, Zanichelli ecc.

Carol Fisher Saller è anche l'autrice di The subversive copy editor, un sorprendente libriccino divenuto quasi un caso editoriale.

Il libro è assimilabile, per certi versi, a Val più la pratica. Piccola grammatica immorale della lingua italiana di Andrea De Benedetti, che, però, non è ugualmente ricco di spunti interessenti, e i pochi che propone non lo sono altrettanto.

Quello che segue è un elenco proprio di questi. Il numero accanto a ogni citazione corrisponde alla pagina.

Quasi tutte queste osservazioni si adattano perfettamente, o con leggeri aggiustamenti, a tutti i ruoli della comunicazione specializzata.

• One of the most counterproductive assumption for young editors to make is that they are going to be working against the recalcitrance of writers who are ignorant of the rules. (6)
• Copy editors keep a separate style sheet for every document they edit in order to keep track of decisions that depart from the default style. (9, nota 4)
• Carefulness, transparency, and flexibility. (14)
• Courtesy. (19)
• It's rarely a good idea to explain more than is absolutely necessary. (20)
• First do no harm. (24)
• The more published the writer, the more tolerant and even grateful he is for the copy editor's help. (32)
• Undo the editing that you did merely for the sake of eloquence rather than correctness. (35)
• A manuscript will never be edited the same way twice, and it will never be considered perfect, no matter how many times it's edited - probably not even by the last person who edited it. (45)
• Something you should never do once editing has begun is to make changes to the original e-files. (47)
• Nothing is more gratifying than for us to receive a manuscript back from a writer with the editing for the most part intact. (49)
• We are continually astonished that grown-up professionals, many of whom have probably railed for years at their students for not reading directions, fail to observe the simple instructions for marking up edited copy or proofs. (50)
• Sleight of hand is the editor's best tool. (53)
• The rules I want you to break are not really rules; the standards I want you to lower are merely barriers to good and efficient editing. (57)
• Just because we can, doesn't mean we should. (79)
• Perhaps the most vexing issue for freelancers is money. In-house editors take a paycheck for granted. On your own, however, it may seem as though you live with your hands out. (106)
• As a businessperson providing a service, it's your prerogative to set the rate and your client's obligation to inquire what it is. After that, all parties are entitled to negotiate. The trick is to learn what a reasonable wage is for (1) your level of experience, (2) the service you're offering, and (3) the employer you're working for. These are all separate concerns. (107)
• Some of our "standards" are just time-consuming habits that don't really make a difference for the reader. (114)