I'm still not sure what to make of this sentence I came across in my copy-editing work today:
Guests are given glowsticks to guide their way through the already freaky figures and dioramas—a gauntlet that’s pretty scary to run even with the lights on.
It's weird enough that it seems to be based on a metaphor mixing "run the gamut" (range, scale) and "throw down the gauntlet" (glove). But "a gauntlet that's scary to run"?
I changed it to "a course that's pretty scary to run." But it'll be a while before I'm confident about it ...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Copy Editing Conundrum du Jour
Labels:
copy editing,
copyediting,
language,
poor word choice,
word choice,
Writing
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4 comments:
I use the phrase "run the gauntlet" quite often. If you google it you should find a number of explanations, including a wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_the_gauntlet
Ha! That's it! (Had he used "gantlet," I'd have recognized it.)
Or, better yet, if I'd have just read the entire dictionary entry I checked!
Thanks you!
I'm looking for an email address for you...wanted to send you a real doozie from ABCNews today...
Cool! My public e-mail address is JuneTCN@aol.com. I don't check it anywhere near as often as I should. But I will now to keep an eye out for your ABC doozy. Thanks!
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