Who ever though that copy-editing would be such a big deal? As blogged about in the New Yorker and reported by CNBC, a Citigroup trader accidently entered a “billion-size sell trade” instead of the intended million-size. We can only begin to imagine how much this minor spell-check error is costing Citigroup.

                This report actually brought to mind a poem that I once read entitled “Editor” by Melody Lacina, which was published fairly recently in print annual 4 of the literary magazine, Painted Bride Quarterly. In it, Lacina stresses the importance of copy-editing, specifically of punctuation, grammar, and minor spell-checks. Although it may seem tedious and tiresome, the task of copy-editing must not be taken lightly. As best emphasized by Lacina, perhaps, “When, instead of smoking in public, he suddenly finds himself smoking in pubic, who will step in to put out the painful, embarrassing fire?”