Headache
The ability to cut and paste text is a blessing, no doubt about it. One of the complaints about the iPhone and the iPod touch--which are essentially small computers that just happen to double as phones and MP3 players--is that you couldn't cut and paste text in their built-in word-processing software, so you couldn't, for example, cut an URL out of an e-mail and paste it into the browser. The new Version 3.0 software fixes that, and about time, too.
But cutting and pasting presents its own problems, because it's appallingly easy to duplicate a piece of text and make changes to it without noticing that you didn't make all the changes you ought to have, or to shuffle bits of text around and have the result make less sense than it ought to.
Over the weekend I bought some liquid ibuprofen capsules, another blessing, because they seem to work faster than the tablets at blasting their way through a migraine (it might be the power of suggestion, but I don't care). The box contains a placemat-sized piece of paper listing the various warnings and interactions that drug manufacturers are legally forced to scare us with. And as you will have guessed, there are problems. Not actual typos, which would worry me, but cut-and-paste errors, which simply annoy me.
IBUPROFEN LIQUID FILLED CAPSULES 200 mg
Adults and children over 12: For the pain of migraine, take 1 or 2 capsules at the first sign of symptoms, and every four hours as needed. For all other uses, take 1 or 2 capsules every four hours as needed. Do not exceed six capsules in 24 hours, unless directed by a physician.
IBUPROFEN LIQUID FILLED CAPSULES 400 mg
Adults and children over 12: For the pain of migraine, take 1 capsules at the first sign of symptoms, and every four hours as needed. For all other uses, take 1 capsules every four hours as needed. Do not exceed three capsules in 24 hours, unless directed by a physician.
"1 capsules". Cut, paste, hack out the unneeded numbers, forget to correct for grammatical number. At least they caught the "six"/"three" difference, because that would have been a bad thing. (Ibuprofen, though a wonder drug, is not so good for your kidneys in high doses.)
What it does:
IBUPROFEN LIQUID FILLED CAPSULES/EXTRA STRENGTH IBUPROFEN LIQUID FILLED CAPSULES contain ibuprofen, which belongs to the class of drugs called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), which act by decreasing the prostaglandin synthesis, which are naturally occurring substances in the body involved in the production of pain and inflammation.
Someone wrote "synthesis of prostaglandins", from which the rest of the sentence hangs. Someone else decided it should be "prostaglandin synthesis", for some reason, switched those words, and didn't change anything else, meaning the "the" and the entire remainder of the sentence is simply wrong and ought to have been rewritten.
But cutting and pasting presents its own problems, because it's appallingly easy to duplicate a piece of text and make changes to it without noticing that you didn't make all the changes you ought to have, or to shuffle bits of text around and have the result make less sense than it ought to.
Over the weekend I bought some liquid ibuprofen capsules, another blessing, because they seem to work faster than the tablets at blasting their way through a migraine (it might be the power of suggestion, but I don't care). The box contains a placemat-sized piece of paper listing the various warnings and interactions that drug manufacturers are legally forced to scare us with. And as you will have guessed, there are problems. Not actual typos, which would worry me, but cut-and-paste errors, which simply annoy me.
IBUPROFEN LIQUID FILLED CAPSULES 200 mg
Adults and children over 12: For the pain of migraine, take 1 or 2 capsules at the first sign of symptoms, and every four hours as needed. For all other uses, take 1 or 2 capsules every four hours as needed. Do not exceed six capsules in 24 hours, unless directed by a physician.
IBUPROFEN LIQUID FILLED CAPSULES 400 mg
Adults and children over 12: For the pain of migraine, take 1 capsules at the first sign of symptoms, and every four hours as needed. For all other uses, take 1 capsules every four hours as needed. Do not exceed three capsules in 24 hours, unless directed by a physician.
"1 capsules". Cut, paste, hack out the unneeded numbers, forget to correct for grammatical number. At least they caught the "six"/"three" difference, because that would have been a bad thing. (Ibuprofen, though a wonder drug, is not so good for your kidneys in high doses.)
What it does:
IBUPROFEN LIQUID FILLED CAPSULES/EXTRA STRENGTH IBUPROFEN LIQUID FILLED CAPSULES contain ibuprofen, which belongs to the class of drugs called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), which act by decreasing the prostaglandin synthesis, which are naturally occurring substances in the body involved in the production of pain and inflammation.
Someone wrote "synthesis of prostaglandins", from which the rest of the sentence hangs. Someone else decided it should be "prostaglandin synthesis", for some reason, switched those words, and didn't change anything else, meaning the "the" and the entire remainder of the sentence is simply wrong and ought to have been rewritten.
posted by pyramus | 11:01 AM
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