editing question -- help!

[Anne Frasier]

I'm a hillbilly, and some things that sound right to me are very, very wrong and probably come close to illiterate. :D

I'm going over my copyedited manuscript and keep coming across an editorial correction that I know is right, but I wonder if my way isn't more accepted even though it's really incorrect.

I say:

that's what he smelled

that's what he did

that's what he wanted to know

so that's how it was done




it's been changed to:

that was what he smelled
that was what he did
that was what he wanted to know
so that was how it was done

now i realize it's a tense issue, and the copy editor is correcting my mistake, but to my hillbilly ear the correction is jarring. opinions out there? (now that i read her correction here, it no longer seems that jarring.)

[Karyn J. Powers]

The best thing about Red Neck Publishing is that once you finish any novel they produce the pages can be used as rolling papers or for polishing the still. Watch out for those $%*#& Revenuers.

Anne, Fight to keep your voice!
(I can't wait until they get their hands on my heroine's Korean boyfriend's dialogue.)

[Jordan Dane]

And my bubba sociopath should be a joy to read for a NYC copy editor. Something to look forward to.

[Anne Frasier]

let us know how that goes. you might be fine!

[J.D. Rhoades]

my bubba sociopath should be a joy to read for a NYC copy editor.

Been there, done that.

Then there was the CE who questioned whether a solider would talk about a stint in Saudi Arabia by calling it just being in "Saudi."

"Isn't that like describing 'Hong Kong' as "Hong'"? he asked.

Well, maybe, but "Saudi" is what they call it.

[Anne Frasier]

here's my all-time favorite CE remark --

I said: She put the cat in a Pet Taxi.

CE: Would a town that small have taxi service for pets?


this of course did point out my error. I should have simply said pet carrier, but still funny as hell.

[Cornelia Read]

This reminds me of the snotty chick from Chicago or somewheres who lived down the dorm hall from my sister Freya, freshman year of college outside Boston.

When Frey asked Snotty Chick one Monday morning whether she'd had a good weekend, SC replied, "Of course I had a good weekend. I was invited someplace far more interesting than campus, unlike some people."

"Oh?" asked Frey, "where'd you go?"

"A tremendously chic party," sniffed SC, tossing her hair, "out on The Cod."

[Anne Frasier]

haha!! and i'll bet her favorite movie was Cod Fear.

[Cornelia Read]

Her favorite superhero was The Codded Crusader...

[Bill Cameron]

It must have been a very big fish, even for a small chic party.

[Anne Frasier]

need a doobie?
need to shine yer still?
wipe yer bum?

Redneck Publishing can help!

[Karyn J. Powers]

Excuse me, but have you met an original Duke of Hazard? Three years in a row? Was your sister's dog winged during hunting season cuz, he's large, brown and plays with last year's racks? Did you learn physics by slamming two station wagons together while your brother was studing for his drivers test next to you? If I lay out tie downs, come alongs, skirts, and sandbags on your front lawn would you be able to jugde the f strength of the tornado in the next county and still make it to the shelter in time?

And meth is too hard on the kids. We've all moved to making Cheese (Tylenol PM & Black tar H)

[Joy Calderwood]

There are two times I can think of when those contractions should be red penciled:

When "that's what he smelled" is too casual for the prevailing tone;
When it wouldn't really matter except that adding the extra syllable improves the rhythm.

I'd say that copyeditor is probably going beyond the bounds of his job description.