Thursday, 16 March 2006 12:15 pm
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deckardcanineAs a preteen, I used to read strategy guides for Nintendo games I didn't even intend to play. This comes to show how obsessed I was (they weren't that amusingly written, were they?), but it may also have had a part in the process of me becoming a proofreader and editor. Those guides -- published in paperback, not online -- had a level of sloppiness in language, formatting, and simple factuality that I have seen rivaled only by my junior high newspaper. "They need you," my parents would say. But, well, my priorities have shifted just a tad. I may not be making as big a difference as I would for those "ultimate unauthorized" guys, but I consider the editing jobs I've had more important.
Lest you think I've come a long way for some reason, I have started looking at walkthroughs for games I used to have, just so I can groan at the things I missed. The sloppiness seems more forgivable in this medium, tho now it's sometimes accompanied by an immaturity that would unnerve some publishers. "If you're a stupid moron with a big butt, and your butt stinks, and you like to kiss your own butt, then you didn't do as I told you and..." Yeah, that's laying it on a bit thick.
Anyway, I just came upon the most egregious linguistic error I have ever seen in a walkthrough or almost anywhere else. It's not in spelling or grammar this time; it's in meaning:
Make sure to use it liberally (if at all), as it eats up your magic power pretty liberally.
This isn't nearly the only time, or even the first time, on the page that the author misuses the word "liberal" or a related term. I single out this sentence because it includes the term in both the proper way and the exact opposite. Skimming the page, not even checking more of the site, I estimate his usage to be about 40% correct and 60% absolutely incorrect. Strangely enough, I never have any difficulty determining what he means.
Just think: "Liberal" is frequently misused in political circles, either as a vague insult or in reference to policies that deviate from a truer definition of the concept. But who here has known it to be a Janus word in the purest sense? (I guess "Janus word" isn't as useless as I thought....)
EDIT: The same page appears to use "invisible" consistently in place of "invincible." Unless the game item really makes the character invisible to spiked grounds.
Lest you think I've come a long way for some reason, I have started looking at walkthroughs for games I used to have, just so I can groan at the things I missed. The sloppiness seems more forgivable in this medium, tho now it's sometimes accompanied by an immaturity that would unnerve some publishers. "If you're a stupid moron with a big butt, and your butt stinks, and you like to kiss your own butt, then you didn't do as I told you and..." Yeah, that's laying it on a bit thick.
Anyway, I just came upon the most egregious linguistic error I have ever seen in a walkthrough or almost anywhere else. It's not in spelling or grammar this time; it's in meaning:
Make sure to use it liberally (if at all), as it eats up your magic power pretty liberally.
This isn't nearly the only time, or even the first time, on the page that the author misuses the word "liberal" or a related term. I single out this sentence because it includes the term in both the proper way and the exact opposite. Skimming the page, not even checking more of the site, I estimate his usage to be about 40% correct and 60% absolutely incorrect. Strangely enough, I never have any difficulty determining what he means.
Just think: "Liberal" is frequently misused in political circles, either as a vague insult or in reference to policies that deviate from a truer definition of the concept. But who here has known it to be a Janus word in the purest sense? (I guess "Janus word" isn't as useless as I thought....)
EDIT: The same page appears to use "invisible" consistently in place of "invincible." Unless the game item really makes the character invisible to spiked grounds.
