They must be referring to Muphry’s Law: “If you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written.” The name of the law is a deliberate misspelling of Murphy’s law (so don’t bother quoting me and pointing that out). Muphry’s Law also dictates that, if a mistake is as plain as the nose on your face, everyone can see it but you. Your readers will always notice errors in a title, in headings, in the first paragraph of anything, and in the top lines of a new page. These are the very places where authors, editors and proofreaders are most likely to make mistakes.
electricshadow Premium Member almost 9 years ago
W & M have overlooked the “Grammar Nazis” and their equally annoying cousins, the “Spelling Police.”
I should know; I AM that annoying.
Army_Nurse almost 9 years ago
I’m more annoyed at the grammar Nazi’s than the Spelling Police; I think mainly b/c I bombed at diagramming sentences in HS.
gammaguy almost 9 years ago
Do they even teach sentence diagramming any more?
markzwaan almost 9 years ago
They must be referring to Muphry’s Law: “If you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written.” The name of the law is a deliberate misspelling of Murphy’s law (so don’t bother quoting me and pointing that out). Muphry’s Law also dictates that, if a mistake is as plain as the nose on your face, everyone can see it but you. Your readers will always notice errors in a title, in headings, in the first paragraph of anything, and in the top lines of a new page. These are the very places where authors, editors and proofreaders are most likely to make mistakes.