Much to my surprise, humans don't have an infinite amount of worry genes. Or at least I don't.
Everything simply cannot be the end of the world. Some things just don't matter very much. And we -- as editors, copy editors and journalists -- need to stop rioting in the streets over things that readers don't care about. Instead, we need to focus on things that impede comprehension, that seriously damage our credibility and things that are just flat-out wrong.
This week, I'll tell you five things that I'm not losing sleep over.
Call them what you want: rules, guidelines, misconceptions, old traditions or outdated notions. They are things that, for the most part, only matter to us and we're wasting our time whipping ourselves into a frenzy over.
If you want to try to revoke my American Copy Editors Society lifetime membership, knock yourself out :)
Here's No. 1:
Associated Press ruling on "more than" v. "over"
No longer to you need to lose minutes out of your week understanding the difference between more than and over, according to the Associated Press Stylebook.
When the change was announced at the recent American Copy Editors Society conference, purists lit up Twitter with outrage.
Really? This is the style mountain you want to die on? Has anyone on the planet ever misunderstood when a writer used "over" with numbers?
Kudos to AP for taking one nonsensical rule off our editing plates. Now we've got more time to focus on libel, plagiarism, fabrication and other real problems.
This one to me is a no-brainer. No sleep lost here.
Tune in tomorrow for No. 2.
