>> He tests his metal more often, in other words. > > You mean "mettle"? > > Woo hoo, I just corrected an editor!!
Oh, yes, you're right. I was thinking of Ezra Pound's dictum from the _ABC of Reading_, "The amateur does not test his metal in the acid of accepted fact" or words to that effect (quoting from distant memory). And there's nothing at all unusual about me making an error. As any editor will tell you, error is robust, correctness frail and fleeting. --Mike
