Hampster

"Your" truth vs. "the" truth

Not long ago, someone on Twitter described an overheard conversation at their office. A young woman in her 20s was having a meeting with her editor (perhaps in her 40s or 50s) at a magazine. It was an open-office concept so everyone can hear everyone else.

During the meeting, the editor was trying to give the young woman constructive feedback on her magazine piece, but the young woman was having none of it, saying that there should be no edits because her piece was perfectly fine as it was. Exasperated but still dealing with the young woman professionally, the editor decided to focus in on a particular spelling mistake. The editor pointed out to the young woman that “hamster” is not spelled with a “p.”

The young woman said she should be able to spell “hamster” with a “p” if she wants; she had always spelled it with a “p.” The editor suggested they go to the dictionary. The young woman said she didn’t care what was in the dictionary. She should be allowed to spell it “hampster.”

The young woman and her editor took the conversation into a private room.