Life is short, and our print schedule is crowded. OK, here's the real truth. Everyone knows that Editors spring from a ray that ennobles the universe and informs it with all that is good. They are creatures of truly fine sensibility who would never be so cruel as to reject your obviously superior MS on the basis of a single mechanical error. Your MS is first seen by Clerks, the antithesis of all Editing.
Clerks are barely humanoid life-forms drawn from the cooling pools of leaky nuclear reactors.
They have been taught to read and to write and to recognize the mechanical conditions we require. They are hungry, ugly, and alert. But I'm no good at stuff like that. I'll never get a book in because you guys are so anal. If you are no good at stuff like that, hire someone who is.