Sunday, January 17, 2016

Feather-footed through the plashy fen ...

An article on Jan. 3 about the final season of “Downton Abbey” referred incompletely to the architecture of Highclere Castle, the mansion that serves as the set for the show.

And how might the article have done that, Nation's Newspaper of Record?

While the castle was once a classical Georgian mansion, as noted on its website, Highclere’s look has evolved over the many decades — buffeted by the winds of history and culture, much like the characters on the television series — and has assumed the characteristics of a range of architectural styles.

The corrections desk of all places should heed the wisdom of Elmore Leonard: If it sounds like writing, rewrite it. (Attending, we can only hope, to the squinter in the second sentence: does "as noted on its website" refer to what the castle was once, or to how its look has evolved?)

This one's worth noting too. I think the math blunder toward the end is the most charming (700,000 square miles would be bigger than Alaska), but Autological Ramen Shop would be a really good band name.

An article last week about 52 places to go in 2016 misstated the timing of a visit Pope Francis will make to Mexico City. He will be there in February, not in the spring. Because of an editing error, the article misstated the name of a restaurant in Oakland. It is Ramen Shop, not Autological Ramen Shop. In addition, the article misidentified a wine museum that is opening this year in Bordeaux. It is La Cité du Vin, not the Bordeaux Wine and Trade Museum. And, because of an editing error, the article misstated the size of the waterfront expansion in Bordeaux. It is over 7,500,000 square feet, or about 700,000 square meters — not 700,000 square miles. And also because of an editing error, a report on the east coast of Sri Lanka, one of the recommended places, carried an erroneous credit. It was written by Daniel Scheffler, not by Shivani Vora.

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