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A Common Mistake

2009-05-29T10:47:00.001-04:00

Don't Be One of Those People

2009-03-24T15:36:00.004-04:00

The Post recently ran an article about controversy over the big spending bill's inclusion of a million bucks toward battling an insect called the Mormon cricket, and the headline was "One of Those Earmarks That Bug People."

As surely as the chirping of a male cricket attracts female crickets, that construction attracted some raised eyebrows. It should have said "One of Those Earmarks That Bugs People," I was told. The predicate has to agree with the subject.

Yes, the predicate does have to agree with the subject. But it has to agree with its own subject, and sometimes that's the subject of its clause and not the subject of the entire sentence.

That's the technical explanation, but it's the technicalities that tend to lead people to make this common error. Forget all the times you were slapped with a ruler and think about the intended meaning of what you're reading; don't pull out your parts-of-speech flash cards and chant "Subject, verb, subject, verb" like a zombie.

In that headline, it's "those earmarks" that bug people, and this is just one of them. Why would we have dragged those other earmarks into this if we were talking about only this one? Of those earmarks that bug people, this is one. The story is about one of [those earmarks that bug people], not [one of those earmarks] that bugs people. The verb has to agree with "those earmarks," not with "one."

Either Way, They Got Some Crazy Little Women There

2009-03-20T16:11:00.004-04:00

"Kansas City" alone is often ambiguous, and so I would not include it on a list of "dateline cities." For every person who thinks it's obvious that a reference with no state means the much larger one, in Missouri, there's probably, oh, I don't know, a third of a person who thinks it's obvious that it means the one in the eponymous state.

But here's an example of why the dateline-city thing, like all style guidelines, is only a guideline:

RAYTOWN, Mo. — Police say that the bodies of four people have been found in an apartment near Kansas City and that they suspect foul play. Police are trying to confirm the identities of the dead, including two preteen boys.

No need to say "Kansas City, Mo." when (a) we already know the suburb is in Missouri and (b) if it's near the one in Missouri, it's also near the one in Kansas.

Idaho -- Alaska!

2009-02-23T14:31:00.003-05:00

Occasionally we old-fashioned newspaper people are asked what the heck the deal is with this Calif., Fla., Mich. business. Why don't we use the modern, streamlined, newfangled state abbreviations provided to us by the U.S. Postal Service?

I usually don't like to answer a question with a question, but -- quick -- what's MI? Minnesota? Wrong. What's AK? Arkansas? Wrong! What's MS? Massachusetts? Wrong!

Yeah, I know you didn't get any of those wrong, because my readers are sharper than that, but trust me: Ordinary people outside of Arkansas and Alaska (I'll let you fill in your own redundancy joke) would bat maybe .600 on the AK question. And just as AK could be Alaska or Arkansas, AL could be Alabama or Alaska; MA could be Massachusetts or Maryland; MI could be Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi or Missouri; MO could be Missouri or Montana; MS could be Mississippi or Missouri; and NE could be Nebraska or Nevada. I think that about covers it. Now, how many of the standard old-fashioned abbreviations used in Associated Press style run the risk of confusing people? Miss. and Mo. are the only ones that come to mind.

We'd love the ink and the newsprint savings that the two-letter abbrevs. would provide, but, to the degree that these style decisions are more than just arbitrary rulings for the sake of consistency, clarity is Job One.

Work at Home!

2009-01-29T01:42:00.007-05:00

For years, people have been asking me about work-at-home opportunities for copy editors. Today, I finally saw one of some substance.

United Press International seeks a speedy, eagle-eyed, English-language wordsmith with a strong journalism background to join its copy desk. The ideal candidate is an experienced grammar and style maven who thrives in a fast-paced news environment, works swiftly and efficiently on tight deadlines, and is quick with an extensive set of Internet reference tools. You must have an innate enthusiasm for dictionaries and stylebooks; a proofreader's attention to the tiniest detail; a mastery of grammar and composition; a passion for polishing copy; and a proven ability to edit news stories for accuracy, clarity and fairness -- quickly. Requirements: -- Supreme command of the English language and a familiarity with government, politics, international relations, history, economics, current events and more. -- Experience in all facets of daily copy desk work, including style, grammar and libel issues. -- Strong organizational, time-management and communication skills. -- Bachelor's degree in journalism or related field. This position does not include design work but requires strong computer literacy and familiarity with Outlook, Word and Mozilla Firefox. This is a full-time telecommuting position, Monday through Friday. Salary determined by experience and performance evaluation. Reply here.

Is Wal-Mart Now Walmart?

2008-12-02T10:22:00.003-05:00

In the new issue of the Copyediting newsletter, Paul R. Martin writes:

Today's lesson, class, is about the differences between company names and brand names or logos.

Hey, that's my lesson!

Paul goes on to discuss the latest example of the signs-don't-match-the-name phenomenon. The stores of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which once bore signs reading WAL*MART, now bear signs reading Walmart*. We grown-up publications types don't go for starbursts or asterisks (or all caps when initials aren't involved, for that matter), but should we now be writing about Walmart rather than Wal-Mart?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: As with J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and its JCPenney stores, and Exxon Mobil Corp. and its ExxonMobil service stations, we're faced with one rendition for the company and another on the signs it uses. Because it would be rather silly outside of a discussion like this to write about "J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and its JCPenney stores" or "Exxon Mobil Corp. and its ExxonMobil service stations," we grown-up publications types need to pick one rendition or the other, and it makes sense to choose the one that's on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If you're still rooting for "Walmart," by the way, the company behind the stores, as Paul Martin points out, makes a bid for the "most refreshing bit of logo candor" award in its news release announcing the change in typography:

In its 46-year history, Wal-Mart has freshened up its logo on a number of occasions. Its last revision was in 1992.

Wal-Mart, eh? Well, there you go.

Capital Idea

2008-11-05T23:40:00.001-05:00

You know, I can't really blame them. At least until this country moves into the 21st century and gets fully behind telecommuting.

Tot Mom Update

2008-10-29T13:10:00.002-04:00

Casey Anthony did not work at Universal Studios. Universal Studios is a filmmaking operation near Los Angeles, roughly 2,519 miles from the Orlando home of the mother of the missing Caylee.

She may not have worked at Universal Studios Florida, or the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, either, but that's the place people are talking about when they keep saying "Universal Studios."

I feel better now.

Another Grey Area

2008-10-10T16:24:00.002-04:00

Why use the preferred spelling when an alternative one fits your layout better?

Fewer 'Less' Complaints, Please

2008-09-18T09:51:00.004-04:00

"Sir, do you have 10 items?"
"I have less."
"Great -- come to this line, then."

Did the man say "I have less items"? No. He said he has less. It could mean less than that, or less stuff or it could simply mean less. Be the annoying stickler if you like and criticize him, and the signs, if they say "less items" or "10 or less items," but "less" is a perfectly good concept and a perfectly good word on its own, and "10 items or less" is perfectly fine. Don't go inferring a supposedly implied word to create an error so you can criticize it.

I have plenty to complain about at the supermarket as people park their shopping carts in the middle of aisles and pay with checks in the 21st goddamn century; I will not be joining the chorus of fussbudgets insisting that signs be made silly and pedantic.

David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008

2008-09-14T00:55:00.004-04:00

I never met David Foster Wallace, and he was much cooler and more successful than I'll ever be, but I always felt a certain kinship. He was almost exactly my age (two months younger), and we shared a love for tennis as well as a passion for language. A couple of links:

A clip about a usage peeve from an interview with Bryan Garner.

An essay about descriptivism vs. prescriptivism.

Waldorf Equals Astoria?

2008-09-07T16:58:00.004-04:00

Yes, that's an "equals" sign in the logo of the famed hotel. In any publication run by grown-up editors and not xerographers, of course, it's Waldorf-Astoria, with a hyphen.

A New Look

2008-09-05T01:47:00.003-04:00

My friends, when I started writing about editing on the Web more than 13 years ago, there were no blogs, there obviously wasn't any Web 2.0, and I had not yet written a book. Sites were just sites, and it hadn't dawned on a lot of us site owners that short, snappy URLs were the way to go. Oh, The Slot would come soon enough, but first there was The Crusty Old Man's Copy-Editing Peeve Page. For those of you who don't remember that address, it was http://www.access.digex.net/~bwalsh/editing.html.

Today I do most my ranting here on Blogslot. I could just redirect www.theslot.com, but I'm loath to give up all the pre-blog resources at my main site, and, frankly, I just enjoy the design and the programming. But it was time to clean things up and give the important stuff more prominence, and so I redesigned The Slot's home page. My signature color scheme and stuck-in-the-'90s aesthetics remain, but things are more compact and pared-down. I hope you like it. If not, there's always Slot Classic.

Ms. Palin, Meet Mr. Drysdale. And Jethro.

2008-09-02T04:58:00.007-04:00

I covered this two years ago, but I can't resist repeating it as I hear Sarah Palin and her fans mention, over and over again, how she has fought "the good-old-boy network."

The "old-boy network" and "good ol' boys" are practically opposites. As highly respected usage commentators usually do, I'll draw an example from "The Beverly Hillbillies." In the above photos, the old boy is on the far left. The good ol' boy is on the far right.

Then again, maybe in Alaska they're the same thing.

(Yes, that time stamp is accurate. If you have a comment, please make it quietly.)

Entitlement

2008-08-27T02:38:00.002-04:00

Yet another of my many grievances: How is it that the most editing-intensive job in the newsroom earns you a title without the word "editor" in it? Copy chief sounds like the person in charge of the xerographic reproducification machine. Copy desk chief is a little better, but it still sounds like an administrative if not clerical position. Slot sounds like, well . . .

What He Said

2008-08-25T13:14:00.004-04:00

My Post colleague Jeff Baron on what exactly it is that we do:

We all need editors. When we write, we might know what we mean to say, and we become blind to the looseness in our language and the gaps in our facts. Friends will ignore slips in e-mails, but newspaper readers should be able to expect a higher standard.

Keep reading.

Put Away the Branding Iron

2008-08-22T13:43:00.003-04:00

We had Bush-Cheney '04, and now we have Obama for America and John McCain 2008. (Given the current air of manufactured mystery, I'm surprised we don't have Obama-???? '08, with Matthew Lesko, or maybe the ghost of Frank Gorshin, floated as a trial balloon.) The campaigns are free to call themselves what they like, and in some sense those names are registered as corporofinancial entities of some sort, but outside of forensic-accounting stories the McCain campaign and the Obama campaign should be referred to as "the McCain campaign" and "the Obama campaign."

Same for such pseudo-brand-name entities as Yoknapatawpha County Public Schools. No matter how nice the logo might be, it's "the Yoknapatawpha County school system" in any dignified publication.

Parental Discretion Is Advised

2008-08-19T22:25:00.009-04:00

If you publish and you're imperfect, you'll have errors. If you're also conscientious, you'll have corrections. At McSweeney's, David Copper speculated on what a corrections column in Penthouse Forum might look like. One example:

In the letter "And Wifey Makes Three," the letter writer stated: "My wife was eager to engage in a threesome with me and our incredibly hot 19-year-old babysitter." The sentence should read: "My wife was disgusted, repulsed, and, in every imaginable way, opposed to the thought of engaging in a threesome with me and our incredibly hot 19-year-old babysitter." Nor did the wife "wildly undulate" while seated on the face of the babysitter, or "moan in unending pleasure" as she watched her "superstud" of a husband give the babysitter "a good seeing-to." The letter writer also doesn't fight crime on the weekends from the confines of a secret underground lair.

Spelin Erurs

2008-08-12T21:58:00.001-04:00

Another fine LOLcat from I Can Has Cheezburger.

Are You the Bestest?

2008-08-11T12:14:00.008-04:00

To celebrate the Oct. 15 release of her book "Things That Make Us [Sic]," Martha Brockenbrough is running a contest to find the best copy editor in the United States.

If you're wondering just how one would measure such a thing, especially given how hard it is to simply find a competent person to fill an opening (remember when we had "openings" to "fill"?), well, so am I, but Martha has her ways. Apparently there's a find-the-errors test, and if you pass that you get to write a little something.

Now, now, don't get too cynical. The contest is in memory of Martha's friend Steve Higgins, a Dow Jones copy editor who died of a brain tumor last year, and 10 percent of the proceeds from the book will go to the Brain Tumor Society.

Web Two-Point-Whatever-We're-at-Now

2008-08-07T11:50:00.005-04:00

This will be review for a lot of people, but I tried to round up the various forms my language blogging now takes. I've also cleaned some cobwebs off the home page of The Slot.

Rules Grammar Change

2008-08-05T11:30:00.001-04:00

This just in (well, over the weekend) from Onion Radio News.

Hi, Tech!

2008-08-04T11:32:00.007-04:00

Now that I've invited you to join the cause on Facebook, allow me to introduce The Slot on Twitter. It's taken me a while to warm to the Twitter concept, even though it's basically like my favorite part of Facebook, the status update, writ large.

But this seems to be what all the kids are doing, and so -- let's call it an experiment -- I've decided to do my tweet-tweet-tweeting not about the fact that I'm at Nationals Park or I can't wait for "Mad Men" to start, but rather about usage-related stuff too small to blog about. You'll notice a new module on the right side of the Blogslot page (though it doesn't always work), but you can also follow my feed on the Twitter site or on your mobile computing device or, heck, maybe your jet packs or your tattoos (but check the site just to be sure).

If you were already signed up, you would have heard me tweeting recently about the cruelly ironic squeeze on the dwindling numbers of copy editors, and the fact that nobody seems to include the CUNY part in references to Baruch College, and unforced errors by tennis commentators, and some insistent queries about the Burma-vs.-Myanmar dispute. Oops -- I guess that last part is far from being too small to blog about. Maybe someday.