Slip into my time machine for my first blog about editing.
Let's go back to about 1989 and the beginnings of spell check.
Spell check is a valuable editing tool, but it is only one tool an editor should have in his/her toolbox. Heavy reliance on one editing tool can lead to spectacular, and even global mistakes.
I speak of the Cupertino effect.
In the earliest versions of spell check, the unhyphenated word "cooperation" was often changed to Cupertino, which is the home base of Apple Inc. in Silicon Valley.
Astonishingly, Cupertino rears its ugly head in NATO, World Health Organization, and European Union documents of the time.
Within the GEIT BG the Cupertino with our Italian comrades proved to be very fruitful. (NATO Stabilisation Force, "Atlas raises the world," 14 May 2003)
Safe blood transfusion services are being addressed in Freetown and Lungi, using WHO RB funds in Cupertino with the Red Cross Society of Sierra Leone and in Bo by MSF/Belgium. (WHO/EHA report on Sierra Leone, 1 May 2000)
A consistent and efficient tax reform approach also will facilitate the shoring up broader EU and G-7 support for similar reform strategies -- this in turn would make international Cupertino easier. (European Parliament, "Towards a Re-Orientation of National Energy Policies in the EU? - Germany as a Case Study")
(citations from http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002911.html)
What is our editing lesson of the week?
No system is foolproof.
Use technology, use your eyes and brains, use other people's eyes and brains.
Cupertino is the key to effective editing.
