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Word of the Day – Monday, December 5th

 


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STET (stet)

To nullify an order to correct or delete in printed matter

Common clues: Editor's mark; Let it stand; Dele reverser; Proof annotation; Proofreader's mark; Proof word; Leave in; Editor's override; “Don't change this!”

Crossword puzzle frequency: once a month

Frequency in English language: 70612 / 86800

Video: Proof Reader's Marks



Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the author of this manuscript, initially indicated that all instances of “His,” “He,” and “Thy” on this page be printed in lower case, but then reversed his decision, marking “Stet.”


…“Finally, I must point out a very important word that the reading public may not be aware of: STET …meaning "leave it as it was originally." Authors often use this to mark over copyediting done on their manuscripts, even when the correction was to a valid error (such as a factual error). I once had the horror of reading a book review reviling the copy editor at great length, pointing out all sorts of errors throughout the book. The review was less of a book review than a public execution of the (unknown) copy editor. Except the reviewer forgot the magic word STET. I was aware of who had copyedited that particular manuscript and knew that all those errors had been carefully researched and corrected or queried to the author (example: "Does author mean 'Babar the Elephant' here? Misspelled 'Barbar.') The author had stetted all the errors, and erroneous blame was put on the copy editor in a public (though anonymous) manner. It was a shame to read, knowing what I knew.” 


- from Why Copy Editors Are Necessary: A Small Treatise on the Publishing World, by Nancy C. Hanger