Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

The new Blue is excellent, having just skimmed it the content and photos are excellent.

Have read the editorial though - the proof-readers should be shot!
Certainly not up to INS' self-proclaimed "high standards" which he's historically been so proud of?
What happened??! The gremlins get into the print machines??

Julian has said what everyone else was tiptoeing around.

a beaut at the top of page 20 "when the girls arrived at Hertford....." either 'at Horsham' or 'from Hertford'.

BTW was there ever soft loo paper at Hertford? There certainly wasn't in 1972.

All I'll say is that one is asking for trouble when one extremely confidently tells a group of people about the high standards to which The Blue is produced, compared to some other publications.....

At the time, I did observe that we simply don't have the same enviable experience or capability....I guess I was wrong?!?

Hi

Well I'm only a few pages in, and it is a publication of great beauty.

But the misplaced apostrophes I encountered very early on did disturb me......

So who was in charge of proof-reading???

Liz

I wonder how many proof readers there are?

John has a team of 4 or 5 for his magazine, and he knows just what things each is most likely to pick up - errant apostrophes, Oxford commas, inconsistencies in use of hyphens in Welsh names, correct capitalisation etc. John then spends ages amalgamating all these proofs onto a master copy, takes that with him to the printers and sees each is corrected on screen before printing. He has a very good relationship with his printer, but even this is not foolproof, things slip by to his fury!

Katharine wrote:I wonder how many proof readers there are? John has a team of 4 or 5 for his magazine,

For a minute I thought you were talking of me.
In fact we are just establishing a system using proof readers, quality checked by DBTS, but this is for the Old Blue. In the past it has been the CHOBA office, editor and sub editors, with Sunset Design also throwing in their pennyworth. We now have a style guide.

I have no idea who does it for the Blue.

jhopgood wrote:

Katharine wrote:I wonder how many proof readers there are? John has a team of 4 or 5 for his magazine,

For a minute I thought you were talking of me.
In fact we are just establishing a system using proof readers, quality checked by DBTS, but this is for the Old Blue. In the past it has been the CHOBA office, editor and sub editors, with Sunset Design also throwing in their pennyworth. We now have a style guide.

I have no idea who does it for the Blue.

Sorry John (Hopgood), I don't think you have a regular problem with hyphens in Welsh names!

D'jnow ---- I thouroughly enjoyed the whole magazine !
Particularly the sporting achievements of Barnes B which appear to continue, after some 75 years, when we were pretty good, if not that academic !!
I am normally acid about bad proof-reading, viz : a recent publication on Cruises, informed me that they had a wonderful time visiting Portsmouth --------

--- at least what was printed as "Pompey", but I don't remember the eruption reaching that far north !

Let us not be too critical of what is an infant child.

I AM pleased to see that our state schools are being requested to TEACH the proper use of punctuation.

It seems to have become almost non-existant in the last decade or so !

J.R. wrote:I AM pleased to see that our state schools are being requested to TEACH the proper use of punctuation.

It seems to have become almost non-existant in the last decade or so !

But is there anyone left who is competent to teach it?

OOOOER !!
Take cover !

OK let's got some things straight. Pompey IS Portsmouth (though there was an Ancient Roman known as Pompey), Pompeii is where the eruption occurred, (and pompier is the French word for fireman ) and the word is non-existEnt.

While we are at it, incidentALLY and accidentALLY NOT incidently and accidently.

(Grammar assistance kindly provided by state school educated husband and daughter).

Rant over (for now)

Neill posted while I was writing this.

I confess to the errors in the introduction. Written in haste and not checked by anyone. FATAL ERROR! I am well aware of the rules about the use of the apostrophe, so feel suitably chastened. Proofing a magazine of this size, that is written by dozens of people and tinkered with right up to publication is tough. However, that does not mean that the mistakes do not irritate. Hopefully, the minor errors do not detract from what is, i firmly believe, one of the best school magazines on the market, particularly given the fact that it is written by students not teachers.

I am pleased by the positive feedback from parents and Old Blue's and will work extra hard to pick up my own errors next time!

I am well aware of the rules about the use of the apostrophe, so feel suitably chastened.

I am pleased by the positive feedback from parents and Old Blue's and will work extra hard to pick up my own errors next time!

Ever heard of the greengrocer's apostrophe Ian?

Dodgy proofreading aside, I think that this year's The Blue is, as always, a most impressive publication; congratulations to all concerned.

Well spotted! I thought i would just throw another one in to see who was reading carefully. Old Blues' do have a sound grasp of grammar and punctuation!