tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51580722026-04-07T01:54:39.642-05:00A copy-editing blog covering grammar and newspapers like they're going out of style. Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.comBlogger1454125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-31578438398911895592011-05-03T09:00:00.002-05:002011-05-03T09:02:57.101-05:00

This blog is now closed, and I've begun moderating comments. Please feel free to email the author at nicole@nicolestockdale.com.

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-35884179245318558822009-04-20T17:20:00.007-05:002009-04-24T09:24:17.655-05:00

Peeking out of my blogging coffin to share this tidbit with all you overworked copy editors, if schadenfreude's your thing: The Nationals are making copy-editing (and baseball uniform) news with their latest misstep: Two players were sporting uniforms with the team name spelled "Natinals." (They quickly switched to properly spelled garb, but the damage was done.)To make matters worse, the

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-88129318714072024172008-04-29T19:09:00.000-05:002008-04-29T19:10:35.240-05:00

While I'm blogging ... I should also link to another Ask the Editor column I wrote for The Dallas Morning News. This one is about my duties as Sunday opinion editor. And cocktail parties.

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-82027792414908585422008-04-29T19:06:00.002-05:002008-04-29T19:23:20.820-05:00

An apt description of my editing life can be summed up by this Onion story:Commas, Turning Up, Everywhere.onion_embed {background: rgb(256, 256, 256) !important;border: 4px solid rgb(65, 160, 65);border-width: 4px 0 1px 0;margin: 10px 30px !important;padding: 5px;overflow: hidden !important;zoom: 1;}.onion_embed img {border: 0 !important;}.onion_embed a {display: inline;}.onion_embed a.img {float

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-26319983041886433942008-03-05T00:22:00.002-06:002008-04-02T16:24:25.156-05:00

But I was asked to write a column for my newspaper's Web site on some copy-editing issues -- when readers complain about errors that aren't. I got to cover some of my favorite topics (including "just deserts" and "the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put." Check it out at The Morning News' Ask the Editor section.

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-31411819571114985622007-05-30T21:30:00.000-05:002007-05-30T23:15:30.301-05:00

Here goes a few belated recaps from the ACES conference sessions. I'll start with Merrill Perlman's great "If I Knew Only" presentation. It was the perfect way to get the conference going, focusing on nuts-and-bolts editing and some bugaboos writers and editors often miss.Merill had the perfect example about how the placement of "only" can change the meaning of a sentence. Start with "I hit him

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-21019532503198279292007-04-18T21:32:00.000-05:002007-04-18T21:39:39.876-05:00

I'm in Florida for the ACES conference. Please take the time to say hi if you're here!Doug Fisher and I will be presenting a session on "blogging for editors" tomorrow afternoon, and I fully expect someone to take me to task for not having blogged lately. I'll try to make up for that by posting here and at the conference blog (which should get going shortly).Now off for a beer ...

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-23389013258340659762007-03-22T13:10:00.000-05:002007-03-22T13:21:27.389-05:00

A look at some posts today in my other blogging job shows the perils of relying on anonymous sources. Politico.com broke the news that John Edwards was going to announce that his campaign was on hold because his wife's cancer was back. Headline: Edwards to suspend campaign. Then Edwards had his news conference, confirmed the cancer news, and said the campaign wouldn't be affected. Politico's new

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-46155818800438711922007-03-20T17:12:00.000-05:002007-03-20T17:27:02.673-05:00

NPR's "On the Media" will be covering the McJob news next week. n his 1991 novel Generation X, Douglas Coupland coined the term "McJob," to denote – as the OED now defines it – "an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects." Now McDonald's is waging a battle to get dictionaries to redefine the term. Of course, McDonald's isn't the only trademarked name to be co-opted in an unflattering way.

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-72762987596919506602007-03-20T10:10:00.001-05:002007-03-20T10:10:24.723-05:00

McDonald's has actually launched a lobbying effort to get the dictionary definition of "McJob" changed. We believe that it is out of date, out of touch with reality and most importantly it is insulting to those talented, committed, hard-working people who serve the public every day," wrote David Fairhurst, chief people office in northern Europe, in a letter seeking support for change uncovered

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-65046927861776496912007-03-19T07:47:00.000-05:002007-03-19T11:52:35.826-05:00

Via Kottke.org comes this great example of verbing: The verbing of English nouns continues unabated. A music producer being sentenced for attempted theft tells the court that he's got six children "on the way". The judge thinks he's marrying a women with 6 children but the producer replies, "No, I be concubining".Read the original, in the Cincinnati Enquirer.More on verbing from A Capital

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-18193206937906686572007-03-17T10:11:00.000-05:002007-03-17T10:46:17.114-05:00

The movie "Helvetica" had its world premiere at SXSW this week. The font celebrates its 50th birthday this year, and the feature-length film looks at its specifics and "typography, graphic design and global visual culture" in general.Is it coming to a city near you soon? Probably. Here are the screening dates.And you can win a limited-edition fine art poster from the film (very cool) in this

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-61558601163702643852007-03-15T17:09:00.000-05:002007-03-15T17:42:31.065-05:00

Languagehat points out that it recently changed from set to make. From the OED's revisions page: For many years the verb to set has been cited as the longest entry in the OED. But a recheck shows that it has at last been toppled from this position. The longest entry in the revised matter is represented by the verb to make (published in June 2000). However, it is quite possible that set will

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-15357603111850086222007-03-12T18:39:00.000-05:002007-03-12T19:07:05.410-05:00

Slate has a monthly contest about euphemisms with Barbara Wallraff (who, by the way, is living in Florence, Italy) as curator. She takes reader submissions and shares the best ones in a podcast. This month's contest was for new ways to say "incompetence in the workplace," such as chairwarmer, rock with arms and smooth-brained.The next contest is for euphemisms for "beautiful," "hot," "very

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-46397016258333086092007-03-09T16:16:00.000-06:002007-03-09T16:21:42.551-06:00

It may look awkward, but AP style calls for "daylight-saving time" instead of "Daylight Savings Time" or whatever other concoction reporters are tempted to use.Here's the entry:daylight-saving time Not savings. Note the hyphen.When linking the term with the name of a time zone, use only the word daylight: Eastern Daylight Time, Pacific Daylight Time, etc.Lowercase daylight-saving time in all

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-59395562207618019482007-03-02T11:12:00.000-06:002007-03-02T11:53:23.560-06:00

More states than not are dealing with some flare-up or another over the HPV vaccine. Here in Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry's executive order made the state the first to mandate the shots, the issue still makes daily news. And there's been plenty of potential for error:First, inoculate is spelled with one N, one C; it's not innoculate. Why doesn't it have two N's like innovate or innocuous? They

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-80936150178938055032007-02-23T15:11:00.000-06:002007-02-23T15:14:21.556-06:00

Lest you think I've been deserting this blog, I bring you this from the Onion:"[New Editor-In-Chief] Casey [Aclin] has been a real disappointment," Bartell said. "In a story last Monday, instead of saying 'Dean of Students Charles Baker,' it just said 'Dean Baker.' That's a blatant disregard of Free Press style rules that never would have flown on my watch."In other news, I'm finally getting my

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-1170090925769690342007-01-28T23:03:00.000-06:002007-03-17T10:58:06.301-05:00

ACES has announced its five scholarship winners for the year: Matthew Dulin, University of HoustonKrysten Chambrot, University of Missouri-ColumbiaMegan Crockett, Central Michigan UniversityAmy Goldstein, City University of New YorkDavid Ok, University of Texas at ArlingtonThe top candidate every year is named the Aubespin scholar. That's Dulin this year. He will receive $2,500. The rest of the

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-1166587908030899432006-12-20T16:47:00.000-06:002007-03-17T10:59:03.054-05:00

I'm a fan of unions (always wanted the "Unions: The folks that brought you weekends" T-shirt). I'll admit that I sometimes cringe at the strict contract delineations ("no, copy editors can't write a story; contract won't allow it). But I've gotta give three cheers to the Newspaper Guild for putting its foot down in this case.Gannett papers are moving away from newsrooms and to "information

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-1166586171574060602006-12-19T21:41:00.000-06:002007-03-17T11:00:01.674-05:00

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: We're missing a human remedy from the Stone Age that would erect a mighty backup defense against errors that no computer program or harried staffer on deadline could match: proofreaders, those wonderful thinkers, grammarians, spellers and widely read all-around trivia experts from yesteryear. Their roles were absorbed by technology and loaded onto copy editors,

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-1163566711534410022006-11-16T06:22:00.000-06:002007-03-17T11:00:44.078-05:00

The Onion's always good for a language laugh. Witness:Skywriter trailed by skyeditorAnd for good measure:English Teacher On First Date In Ages Lets Dangling Modifier Slide FALLS CHURCH, VA—Recalling that it was her first date since September 2005, high-school English teacher Melanie Fitzgerald thought it prudent to overlook the grammatical errors of dinner date Aaron McPherson on Monday. "I

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-1163566305771869212006-11-15T07:30:00.000-06:002007-03-17T11:01:35.427-05:00

I saw Joe Lieberman on "Meet the Press" Sunday, and the TV show listed him as "Joe Lieberman, I/D-Conn."That's right — I/D, for independent Democrat. He won the election as an independent but will caucus with the Democrats.From the transcript: Sen. Lieberman: I was elected as an independent, I was elected, I believe, because I said to my constituents in Connecticut, “I’m, I’m as fed up with the

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-1163561565871835662006-11-14T21:25:00.001-06:002007-03-17T11:02:18.118-05:00

A new blog, Webster's Daily, celebrates found poetry from the first edition of Noah Webster'sAmerican Dictionary of the English Language (1828).Some examples: Blink, n.Blink of ice, is the dazzling whiteness about the horizon, occasioned by the reflection of light from fields of ice at sea.Holloa, exclam.A word used in calling.Among seamen, it is the answer to one that hails, equivalent to,I

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-1162776928070368492006-11-08T13:05:00.000-06:002007-03-18T18:59:35.089-05:00

I read about two books last week that I'm adding to my Christmas list:The first is "The Yale Book of Quotations," released Oct. 30, which I read about at the Freakonomics blog. It is by Fred Shapiro, the editor of "The Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations." From its description at Amazon: In many cases, new research for this book has uncovered an earlier date or a different author than

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5158072.post-1162939992654194602006-11-07T16:49:00.000-06:002007-03-18T19:00:16.246-05:00

Jay Rosen's open-source reporting project names a director of verification: Craig Silverman, who runs Regret the Error. Working with the NewAssignment.net team and you, we will conceive and deploy a distributed fact checking system to check and verify the information contained in NewAssignment.Net stories. We’re going to use a combination of people, protocol and technology to do this. But the

Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249496192742926693noreply@blogger.com0