She says "cabernet," I say "cabaret," let's call the whole thing off.

I hope you've both noticed and haven't noticed that the last few issues of The Newsletter on Newsletters have been virtually free of spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. That's thanks to our new proofreading service, ProofreadNOW.

I recommend the service (although I'd love to copy edit its name). We signed up for a 24-hour turnaround. The proofs usually come back in about 12 hours. And such disconcertingly detailed proofs they are. The occasional inverted quotation mark. Stylistic suggestions for improvement. Misspellings, of course. Capitalizations (middle east or Middle East?).

But, I say "virtually free of typos" because in the last issue, in my Reporter's Notebook, we ran, "A cabernet-style improv group made an excruciatingly poor attempt at ...."

Make that cabaret-style.

I couldn't resist writing ProofreadNOW's punctilious president, Phil Jamieson, with the subject line: "The difference between wine and song":

   I just got my print version of The Newsletter on Newsletters and
   found a typo in my page 4 Reporter's Notebook, one that was not
   picked up by Jo. We have "cabernet" rather than "cabaret" (and you'd
   think her system would red-flag "cabernet" since it wasn't properly
   capitalized).
       Reminds me of the time, years ago, when I misspelled the big
   company LexusNexus. Jack O'Dwyer called to ask me if I knew the
   difference between an automobile and a database.
     Give Jo a trip to Paris to bone up on her French.
   To which Phil responded: Jo replies, "I heard the 'improv' group was
   dry, devoid of variety, in poor taste, and basically a bunch of
   zeroes: sounds cabernet-like to me."

What should I say or edit? Horace's Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus ("Sometimes even old Homer nods")? Or, Cui cuique ("To each his own")?

I still stick by ProofreadNOW and urge all of you to engage them or a similar service.

ProofreadNOW.com Inc.,