I would be better employed in ending you...

[emax4]

I do freelance editing for a local newspaper but I don't actually deal with the reporters (though most are pretty decent, from what I've seen so far). I just mark up the hard copy (or change it right on the computer) and hand it back to the other editors, LOL. Though there is one writer that I am going to bludgeon one fine day with a hefty collection of !her! !overused! !exclamation! !points!

By pure chance, was her name Elaine Benes?

"I decided to put on.. MY SWEATSHIRT!!!"

[PandaHatBear]

At least the amatuers can be corrected by the editors. "Famous" authors?!

Every Michael Crichton book I've ever read has at least one howler.

Congo: C-130: "The worlds largest airplane"

Haha! I read a Patricia Cornell book where she stated "my words travelled at the speed of sound". Gee, thanks for qualifying! I didn't realise that in your universe people normally spoke at the speed of jelly.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Here is the Robin Hood origin story I like:

Every May Day, there would be a festival of unabashedly pagan origin. Rituals would be enacted around the 'May Pole', traditional symbol of the archaic goddess of sexuality and fertility. On Midsummer's Day, every village virgin would become, metaphorically, Queen of the May. Many of them would be ushered into the 'greenwood' where they would undergo their sexual initiation at the hands of a youth playing the role of Robin Hood or Robin Goodfellow, while Friar Tuck, the 'Abbot of Unreason', would officiate, 'blessing' the mating couples in a parody of formal nuptials. … Nine months later, it would produce, throughout the British Isles, its annual crop of children. It was in these 'sons of Robin' that many such family names as Robinson and Robertson first originated.

When the Catholic Church gained control in those areas, such festivities were ended, and the more familiar Robin Hood story came about.

[Talon]

Robin Hood: Men in Tights, however, is totally accurate pure history.

Absolutely! How else did toilets come to be known as "Johns"?

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Absolutely! How else did toilets come to be known as "Johns"?

The water closet was invented by a guy named Thomas Crapper . . . or so the legend goes.

Where did you think the name Crapper came from?

[Sapphire Silk]

Robin Hood: Men in Tights, however, is totally accurate pure history. Right down to Rabbi Tuck. And the peasants shouting "Leave us alone, Mel Brooks" is well-documented in several historical documents of the period.

... isn't it?

Of course it's true! After all, they could speak in authentic English accents.

At least the amatuers can be corrected by the editors. "Famous" authors?!

Every Michael Crichton book I've ever read has at least one howler.

Congo: C-130: "The worlds largest airplane"

Yeah, I think the C-5 Galaxy would disagree.

I've stood on top of a C-5 tail section. Stupendous view!

[dalesys]

Yeah, I think the C-5 Galaxy would disagree.

Even when the C-130 was brand new (1954) it was not the largest airplane.

[Pixilated]

By pure chance, was her name Elaine Benes?

"I decided to put on.. MY SWEATSHIRT!!!"

Well, she doesn't use all caps anywhere (I think even she knows they would not go through) but otherwise ... maybe we've got her evil twin?

Here is the Robin Hood origin story I like:
"The Temple and the Lodge" by Michael Biagent and Henry Lincoln

Love the story! Coincidentally, I just unearthed an as-yet-unread book in my apartment about Robin Hood, written by Nigel Cawthorne. The blurb on the back cover says the legend grew out of the pagan legend of the 'green man' and was solidly anchored in English legend around the time of Richard II.

It doesn't seem to have been limited to English, if you want to believe a story my grandfather told me. He was born and raised in Central Europe and of course they had bandits all over the landscape there too -- and one of them was widely nicknamed 'Robin Hood.' I don't know if this guy actually did share with the poor, or just didn't rob them (for practical if not ideological reasons, LOL), but he was apparently famous for leading the local police forces a merry dance. One story says he came into a town dressed as an old woman, ate at a local restaurant, and signed the underside of the plate before slipping out and disappearing back to wherever he'd come from.

[wolfie]

At least the amatuers can be corrected by the editors. "Famous" authors?!

Every Michael Crichton book I've ever read has at least one howler.

Congo: C-130: "The worlds largest airplane"

Yeah, I think the C-5 Galaxy would disagree.

That goes double for the AN-225. Its payload capacity is 551,000 pounds - makes the Galaxy (270,000 pounds) look like an amateur.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Quoth "The Temple and the Lodge" by Michael Biagent and Henry Lincoln
… Nine months later, it would produce, throughout the British Isles, its annual crop of children. It was in these 'sons of Robin' that many such family names as Robinson and Robertson first originated.

Hah! My (Scottish) grandmother's maiden name was Robertson.

[Rapscallion]

Awaiting updates!

Rapscallion

[Jester]

The water closet was invented by a guy named Thomas Crapper . . . or so the legend goes.

Not quite true....while Crapper did not invent it, he did much to popularize the flush toilet.

Draw your own conclusions.

[PepperElf]

edit: jester beat me to it

any word back from the annoying author?