When good enough isn't

Experienced editors working know that there is never enough time to perfect every sentence of every lengthy document. And even if there were, people are fallible. Give a roomful of experienced editors a year to edit any piece of writing, and it's likely that they would still overlook some embarrassing error.

But in recent years, I've seen a downhill slide toward "good enough," which is sometimes more like "barely OK."

There are several reasons for this. One is the tyranny of speed. A job done as fast as possible has become more desirable than a job done at reasonable pace with fewer errors. Another reason is a growing cadre of People Who Don't Read Good Writing. If you don't read the good stuff, you aren't likely to write even passable stuff.