Re: National Proofreading Day (8 March)

 Ar an t-ochtú lá de mí Márta, scríobh Ross Clark:  > Somewhere there are probably figures on this, but my impression is that
 > during the present century people have been inventing new "National ___
 > Day"s at an alarming rate.
 >  > The present one was initiated in 2012 by "corporate trainer Judy Beaver. She
 > chose it because it was her mother's birthday, and she wanted to honour a
 > lady who was evidently a stickler for correctness in written expression."  > (I'm not making any of this up, and I don't think Crystal is.)
Well, the book needed filler! Maybe this was a collaboration between Crystal
and Beaver in anticipation of the book.
 > The only other moment of fun is a mention of the "Wicked Bible" (1631), one
 > of a number of early KJV editions named for amusing printing errors. This
 > one apparently included among the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt commit
 > adultery".
A love of following rules for the sake of following rules has been a
comparative advantage on the labour market (in proof-reading as in other
things) for hundreds of years now. Of course there is no longer any
evolutionary (reproductive) advantage to earning more money, but I wonder if
before wide-spread contraception there was some measure selection pressure on
this. --
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
(C. Moore)