Internal Affairs

I’ve got a story where a source describes something that brings about the end of someone’s career.

Like the final nail in the coffin. A “death nail,” I thought.

When I got the draft back from Tom Huang, my editor, the word nail had a circle around it, a line to the margin and a question mark.

“I think you mean knell,” he said.

“Nail. Wait. What?”

“Knell. Like a bell ringing.” He turned to the dictionary.

“Oh no.”

knell - [nel]
Function: noun
1 : a stroke or sound of a bell especially when rung slowly (as for a death, funeral, or disaster)

“You learn something everyday,” he said.

“This is probably going on the blog,” I said.

“Make sure you credit your editor.”

Thank you Tom.