I can understand a fiction agent, wading through the poetry and the cookery-book proposals and the paedophile porn written in green ink, who has a more jaundiced eye for any work that looks as if the author hasn't bothered to check out the simple - if minor - stuff.

This presupposes some link between getting every tiny detail right and the writing being any good, which there is no evidence for as far as I can see. Some of the most creative and interesting and lovely people i know are quite absent-minded about other things. And that is not to say they are not good professionals, either, because they are.

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And just to add the opposite can also be the case: some of the most finicky font-obsessed individuals I know are incapable of looking at the bigger picture. I just don't think there is a helpful link there.

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Sorry if that sounded churlish. I may be feeling a might sensitive about this at the moment as I am sending my ms off today(!!!!) and the horrible realisation that no matter how many times you go through it, there are still mistakes you have missed. And yet trying one's best. It's very frustrating.

Snowbell, I agree, there isn't a link, and one shouldn't be made, but agents are human. On the other hand, yes, good writing trumps all...

AliasGrace, the difficulty it, it's really quite hard to find out how someone prefers to be called. At least name and surname is a matter of record, as it were - you can't get it straightforwardly wrong, as you can with Ms/Mrs and so on. And I understand what you're saying about the short form of your name, but on the other hand if I found someone listed as Anthony, say, I'd never, ever write to them as Tony, for the same reason as I wouldn't leave off their surname. It's an informality that isn't appropriate with some one I'm cold-calling. Even if they always use Tony: how could I know that, after all?

If I get it, I'll feel a bit daft calling myself Dr Darwin in a writing context, though in an academic context it would be fine.

Emma

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And good luck with it, Snowbell! The fact that it's all minor means it rubs one up the wrong way even more, I think...

Personally, I don't give a fig whether people call me Miss, Mrs, Ms or Dr. (I could be any of the foregoing, as I am married, but my surname is the one I was born with, and I have a PhD.) I prefer Ms to the rest - much the simplest - but I don't really give a stuff. On the other hand, unless I have written to a person signing myself with forename and surname, I do slightly look askance at being addressed straight away as 'Dear Rosy'. If they just take a guess on 'Mrs' or 'Miss' and get it wrong, I much prefer that. They've been polite, at least, and how can they be expected to divine if I'm married or not and how many degrees I've got? What has any of that to do with anything, anyway?

The MOST ANNOYING thing I've encountered, though, is the assumption that 'Dr' somebody must be a man. I have even had people changing 'Rosy' to 'Roy' to make me fit their mental stereotype!! It's another reason why I hardly ever use 'Dr'.

And, AliasGrace, you are so right abouyt when people feel it necessary to lengthen your name into what they imagine might be on your birth certificate. I've always been Rosy, but people who think they are being politely formal occasionally feel the need to turn it into Rosemary or Rosalind, neither of which is my name. Aaaaghhh!

Rosy.

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This thread is hilarious - everyone (me included) taking the opportunity to have good old vent!

This thread is hilarious - everyone (me included) taking the opportunity to have good old vent!

- yes, I've forgotten my original question now - tee hee


P x

And good luck with it, Snowbell!

thanks. Feeling all ashamed of being obnoxious now.

The MOST ANNOYING thing I've encountered, though, is the assumption that 'Dr' somebody must be a man.

Yikes, do they do that? Come to think of it, my older sister has had that, and the fact that she's a mathematician, which is still a notably male discipline, is NO excuse.

I can see that it's infuriating to have your name assumed to be a short form when it isn't. I was thinking of people who are officially Edward, but always answer to Ted, or whatever, in which case the person who found him on a list can hardly be blamed for saying Edward.

And then there's what you do when your children have a different surname from your own...

Emma

And then there's what you do when your children have a different surname from your own...

I'm always getting told off for this (health visitors, doctors, my mother...). And the number of times I meet someone new and refer to 'my partner' only to have them correct me by saying 'your husband', gah!

Snowbell, good luck!

And then there's what you do when your children have a different surname from your own...

I keep getting disapproval for this. How ridiculous. I'm going to start venting again if I'm not careful, LOL. I'm afraid I really do mind being called 'Miss' or 'Mrs'. Why does anyone need this distinction? Why? I might ask to be called 'Mr' from now on and see how people react to me then!

I will stop venting... NOW!




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Oh yeah... good luck with the submissions, everyone! ;)

Re: children having different surnames to one's own...

At one stage when our daughters were not yet formally adopted, all four of us (me, husband and the 2 girls) had different surnames, one of which happened to be Iraqi. I went to the Post Office to pick up a parcel, and there was no name on the card, just the address. 'What name will be on it?' asked the woman behind the counter. 'I don't know,' I said, 'it could be Thornton, Gross, Tanner or Al-Marzouq'. She started giggling uncontrollably, and eventually managed to get out, 'You have a lot of aliases, don't you! Are the police after you?'

Ha bloody ha!

Sorry - enough with the threadnapping.

Rosy.

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Sorry, not different to, different FROM FROM FROM...

Ok - a (reliable) friend I used to work with told me that our boss (in her 50s at the time) used to throw away applications from female candidates who used 'Ms' for their title.

just thought I'd mention that . . (stands back, then runs..)

That is totally outrageous. Is that illegal, in fact?

Be interesting to know if you could prosecute them under the sex discrimination act, on the grounds (like sacking someone for being pregnant) that you wouldn't do it to a man...

Emma

I think if the candidate found out they probably could make a case.

Definitely illegal under the SDA - it's 'treating less favourably than the employer treats, or would treat, a man'.

Rosy.

I suppose it's all very well having laws, but if people want to be like that and the candidate doesn't know, they will do what they like.