I "copas", so it must be right

If you are Indonesian, you will probably know what "copas" means. It is not at all an Indonesian word. In fact, it is more likely to be labelled as Bahasa Jakarta or "Jakarta language". Jakarta language is not a proper language. There are many words that are acronyms of a phrase that takes too long to sound out. Hence, the truncation.

"Copas" is one such truncation. "CO(py) (and) PAS(te) = Copas" Get it? Quite clever, I must say.

Actually, the point of this blog post is not about truncation or Jakarta language. It is about "copy and paste" of texts that we want to quote in our writing. Since someone else has already typed it out, why should I waste my time and type it out again? Just copy and paste. It will be accurate that way. No typo errors.

You sure about that?

My friend posted a video on one of the SNS sites, quoting on the side the lyrics of the song being sung. Since I do enjoy that group's music and was curious about the rendition of the song, I clicked on the video to watch it, while keeping an eye on the lyrics at the side. Beautiful rendition of the song. I love acapella singing. It is a real test of pitch and hearing.

Since the song was only one stanza, I thought my friend had transcribed the lyrics after listening to the song. I spotted something strange in one of the lines:

He it is who binds us together
And He it is who sends us apart
To be God's people, be God's people

If God binds us together, why would He "send us apart"? Should it not read "And He it is who 'sets' us apart"?

So, me being this nitpicky proofreader of anything and everything written or printed (besides being somewhat too much of a busybody most times), I decided to make the comment in the paragraph above. I did add that since this was the choral group's final performance, "sends us apart" would also be appropriate.

The return jab was (paraphrased to be grammatically correct): "All I did was copy and paste the lyrics from a song lyric site!"

I decided not to fire another salvo. Friendship should never be sacrificed over a sentence.

Depending on the context of a typo, we can either choose to press our point or let it go. Before you decide what to do, take a step back and look at the big picture. Good relations should always take precedence over accuracy.

Here's to lasting friendship and accuracy in writing!