Four years ago, I entered Penn State wanting to be a journalist. In a few weeks, I will leave Penn State with the same ambition. That goal hasn't changed, though it may have been molded by experience -- I'm on track to skip the reporting and head for the copy desk, where I get to hole myself up in a newsroom for hours on end editing articles and writing headlines.
But just in case I still had any doubts about that decision, they were alleviated once and for all last weekend while I was attending the annual national conference of the American Copy Editors Society. I found that there are some things only a copy editor can appreciate. And then, there are those things that if you appreciate them, an alarm should go off to alert you that copy editing is your calling.
I've compiled a list of the latter clues. These are the things of which I am, sadly, guilty as copy editing has crept into my everyday life, even outside The Daily Collegian office. That's how I know I'm a copy editor. You'll know you're one, too, if:
1. You correct grammar in song lyrics. I, for one, had to start skipping over "Something's Missing" on my John Mayer CD because the line "I wish I was" very well may be the most painful song lyric for me to hear.
2. You cringe when you hear someone else say "towards" or "backwards." They aren't words, people.
3. You stop yourself mid-sentence to correct yourself: "My friends that ... I mean, my friends who ..."
4. The first thing you do when you pick up a newspaper is critique the design and headlines. I've railed against everything on professional papers, including their ugly page layouts and unclear/misleading/incorrect/just plain stupid headlines. As a student, I guess I don't have much room to talk, but just give me a few weeks.
5. You can argue extensively about whether or not that compound modifier should be hyphenated or if that phrase is a dangling modifier.
6. You know what a compound modifier or dangling modifier is.
7. You conform to Associated Press style in instant messages. Goodness knows I've got enough editions of the style manual to consult, if you need one.
8. Street signs that are not grammatically correct annoy you. I curse PennDOT every time I drive home and take the exit with the sign "No Reentry Northbound." I mean, really, would hyphenating "re-entry" be that difficult?
9. Another person in your dinner party comes back to the table from the restroom and says something to the effect of: "I'm not sure about this restaurant; they need to get it together. The sign on the restroom says mens -- M-E-N-S -- no apostrophe." This is one of those stories from the copy editing conference, so of course, everyone at the table laughed. Maybe you had to be there.
10. You hang out with people who correct their own sentence structures to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition -- even when they're drunk.
The clues in my list were obviously not my first clues that I wanted to be a copy editor. But who knows, maybe they'll be yours. Or maybe you'll find another set of clues for your profession.
Regardless, what I've discovered is that it's worth heeding the clues. I know I'm a nerd when it comes to language and grammar, but I'm now OK with that. And while leaving college with a purpose doesn't make the job search or the "real world" any less daunting, leaving with a purpose that I know I will love to fulfill makes me smile a little at the challenge.
