Words at Work

I May Faint

2011-06-29T22:23:00.000-04:00

Who do you suppose wrote this? "As a general rule, do not use the serial/Oxford comma."

Dept. of Redundancy Dept.

2011-06-22T09:26:00.000-04:00

Is there a style change I missed? Is there a reason we keep getting redundant references on money, like this? This is the third one I've seen in two days. It asked for $1 million dollars and said "no cops."

Wrong Is Just Wrong

2011-06-19T18:17:00.000-04:00

The thing is, there's no good way to say that the robbery went "right" so saying a holdup that turned fatal had "gone wrong" sets up a problem. It's a construction that needs to be avoided. I can think of two

Reaching the 21st Century

2011-06-11T17:53:00.000-04:00

In 2011, why is anyone still using "coed" ? Cops: We Have "Persons Of Interest" In NY Coed's Disappearance In ...‎ - KTLA. It's probably time to strike that one from the vocabulary list.

Getting Personal

2011-05-04T08:03:00.000-04:00

I welcome me back, isn't that nice of me? Three language experts have challenged the attempt to smear President Obama for his alleged overuse of "I," in his statements about the killing of Osama bin Laden. If you continue to doubt the racial element in some of the criticism of Obama, take a look at the undertone they hear in those criticisms. If you think birther accusations and claims that

The Freeze Is Coming! The Freeze Is Coming!!

2010-10-11T21:20:00.000-04:00

Really? People made all these plans on Monday for something that WON'T happen next year? Must everything include such drama? I'm not faulting or criticizing those on Social Security, who no doubt could use more money, but am knocking the mindset that produces stories like this. An analysis of whether the formula written into law that leads to this kind of freeze would be helpful. How about a

Hit job

2010-10-11T09:45:00.001-04:00

OK, after about a month off, I'm back, happily employed in the news biz and working with a great bunch of people, a mix of old newspaper hands, web pros and others. Time to get back to editing talk. First up this morning is this headline: Obama Is in the Jaws of Political Death: Can He Survive?Let me see. His poll numbers are down but not as low as Ronald Reagan's at this point. The House may

Age-Old Questions

2010-09-12T21:20:00.000-04:00

I know we're not supposed to assume anything but this kind of note in an obit drives me crazy (aside from the weird present tense in the last sentence.) Do we really wonder why a 96-year-old has died? And no, I don't know where I'd draw the line on this question. Kevin McCarthy was 96. Cape Cod Hospital spokesman Dave Riley says McCarthy died Saturday morning. He won't reveal the cause of

Hire Some Editors

2010-09-11T22:17:00.004-04:00

I may have said this before. I have never seen this "concerned for" construction and hope to never again. Rodrigues' sister laid into the media on Friday, upset that her family is being portrayed as the cause of the accident and not being concerned for. And speaking of sports: another F! The second web site to drop an F recently and embarrass itself.

Guess the Meaning

2010-09-03T21:27:00.000-04:00

Low Scores Dot Course Before Hurricane’s Edge Visits Deutsche Bank What? a headline is supposed to inform, though I suppose there's a counterargument that says if it's bad enough to make you go read the story, that works, too. In this case, the headline referred to golfers in a tournament sponsored by a bank were recording low scores as the hurricane approached. But the Times' head made mine

Tidbits

2010-09-02T07:19:00.000-04:00

Jon Winokur offers up a list of the best books for writers. And the Chicago Manual of Style makes some changes.

Just in Time for School

2010-09-01T15:00:00.002-04:00

Things I Don't Want to Know

2010-08-31T15:27:00.001-04:00

Not only is this a detail I don't need to know, I don't need to be told four times.... Police: Man accidentally shoots self in testicles Police say a man accidentally shot himself in the testicles at a Lynnwood department store Police say a man accidentally shot himself in the testicles at a Lynnwood department store. Police spokeswoman Shannon Sessions says the man was carrying his handgun

More Painful Than Editing Bowling Agate

2010-08-31T12:13:00.000-04:00

Copy editor Mike Laws has a truly bad day (and it has nothing to do with editing).

Craigslist vs CNN

2010-08-30T17:34:00.001-04:00

The people at Craigslist are in a pissing match with CNN over its ambush interview of Craig Newmark a couple of months ago. It's worth reading. CNN ought to be glad it doesn't depend on classified ads.

Keeping It Simple

2010-08-30T10:15:00.001-04:00

Amacom Books has a blog post today about copy-editing mistakes, and I have to say that if using the "he and she" construction too often or hyphenating prefixes are really the biggest problems they face, they're in pretty good shape.

The OMG Factor

2010-08-28T10:06:00.004-04:00

I thought the Huffington Post's headlines had gotten just a touch better recently, a little better focused, somewhat more accurate. But the OMG approach still does it in at times. On a video clip of a seriously botched football game--high school, mind you, headlined: Worst High School Football Play Ever (VIDEO) there was this response, among many others: Dear HuffPost, You have the worst

When Freedom Isn't Free of Plurals

2010-08-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

I was recently whining about the increasing use of "freedoms" where we used to just say "freedom," as in "Freedom isn't free." I believe it started during the Bush Administration for some reason but I'm not sure. As in, "the terrorists want to take away our freedoms." Then this appeared today, in a story about a Louisiana newspaper responding to a complaint about its coverage of one of Sen.

Law and Disorder

2010-08-27T14:19:00.000-04:00

"Lawyering up" is another one of those phrases so often used incorrectly that it seems destined to change meaning. Here's an example: Miller issued a statement accusing Murkowski of trying to "pull an Al Franken" by lawyering up.Aside from the smear of Al Franken who legally won a recount, the problem is that the phrase means using a lawyer to avoid telling the cops or prosecutor anything and

I Give 'Em an F

2010-08-18T21:09:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not picking on CNN because this could happen anywhere that doesn't have enough editors or value them enough to make sure they get a couple of looks at everything before it gets published. H/t Charles Apple and Susan Schrock.

Numbers v. Opinions

2010-08-16T08:21:00.000-04:00

This is really weak reporting from The New York Times: But rallies, even daylong ones, are no way to seal the border. The Obama administration insists that its statistics show that significant financing increases in the federal Border Patrol have helped bring down crime at the border and make the smuggling of immigrants and drugs harder than ever. But the activists who gathered Sunday had a

Step Away from the Agenda

2010-08-14T16:01:00.006-04:00

Politico is doing a truly appalling job on coverage of the reaction to President Obama's remarks about the New York Islamic center. (I'm sick to death of hearing it called the Ground Zero mosque, because a. it's a lot more than a mosque b. It's not at Ground Zero. If you know anything about New York at all, you know that two blocks is a great distance in defining neighborhoods and distances. )

Focusing on Content

2010-08-14T13:09:00.001-04:00

There was a little tempest on cable TV (where else) over a headline that accompanied Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner's op-ed piece in The New York Times. The headline "Welcome to the Recovery" was read as snark by many and a number of reporters (who should at least get the name right) rushed to defend Geithner's work against sarcastic comments on the "title." I've always thought headline

'Panel to Weigh Issue'

2010-08-13T16:21:00.002-04:00

Or something like that. I refuse to click in the link with this headline. I want it to forever remain a mystery. Sides Negotiate,' 'Nothing to Report''

Warning Labels

2010-08-13T15:27:00.001-04:00

You could have a lot of (endless) fun with journalism warning labels.