Proofreader #1: Is this a word?
Proofreader #2: No.
Proofreader #1: Then what is it?
140 East 45th Street
New York, New York
Archive for the ‘Publishing’ Category
None of Your Trendy Rat Milk for Me
Designer: I just don’t trust anything that doesn’t come out of a cow!
Newspaper
Melbourne
Australia
12PM Lunch
Proofreader: I have a totally exciting life … I think it’s why I eat so much candy.
140 East 45th Street
New York, New York
I Was Thinking More in Terms Of Using It As Toilet Paper
Editor to writer: Do you want to talk about your cover story submission?
Writer: Not really.
Editor: Well, there are a couple of techniques we could use to improve it.
Writer: Is one of them leaving it the hell alone?
Augusta, Georgia
This Job Sucks — I Quit!
Reporter #1: So, I was interviewing her about what she was going to do next, and she said she hoped she’d just get, you know, a Joe Blow job.
Reporter #2: You’re not going to put that in the story, are you?
Reporter #3: Where can I find this Joe?
149 Penn Avenue
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Overheard by: I just work here
They May Be Deltas
Guy #1: I really want to find this book that I read in high school… It was called, like, Brave New World or something.
Guy #2: Um, no, you’re thinking of ‘I Can Show You the World.‘
Guy #1: Oh! … Wait, no, that’s that song from Aladdin.
Guy #2: Oh, yeah… So what section would it be in?
Guy #1: I don’t know, Fiction? No, wait — Non-fiction!
Barnes and Noble
Savannah, Georgia
Overheard by: Leia
And As Stenographers
Publisher rep: This guy did a study on blind men who use prostitutes.
Book buyer: Ok.
Publisher rep, whispering: For sex.
308 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, California
I Suppose That Does Make It Worse, Sir
Editor, on phone with reader: Sir, the phrase “Stick a sock in it” is pretty common. It’s a common phrase.
[Pause.]Editor: It’s no one’s sock, sir. It’s not a threat.
[Pause.]Editor: Well, I disagree. I think it is a pretty common phrase and I think everyone understood what I meant.
[Pause.]Editor: No, sir, it’s not my sock. It’s nobody’s sock.
Walnut Street
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Or Who Takes Magic Mushrooms. Whatever.
Editor: I want a story about a person.
Intern: What kind?
Editor: Oh, I don’t know. But it could be a lollipop man, who straps a rocket to the back of his lollipop, and now flies to New York in five seconds.
Edinburgh
Scotland
It’s the Human Default Setting
Proofreader: Joe*, I’m confused.
Typesetter: Are you? That’s perfectly normal.
140 East 45th Street
New York, New York
