You Don't Say

John McIntyre, whom James Wolcott called "the Dave Brubeck of the art and craft of copy editing," writes on language, editing, journalism, and random topics. Identifying his errors relieves him of the burden of omniscience. Write to jemcintyre@gmail.com, befriend at Facebook, or follow at Twitter: @johnemcintyre. His original "You Don't Say" blog at The Baltimore Sun ran from 2005 to 2021, and posts on it can sometimes be found at baltimoresun.com through Google searches.

Friday, August 28, 2009

What's the story?

›
Two articles in this morning’s Baltimore Sun reach for the same cliche with reference to the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy: BOSTON — In an ext...
11 comments:
Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Now we have a term for it

›
You’ve heard about the Cupertino .* You have seen the eggcorn .** You know about the snowclone .*** Now — flourish by trumpets and hautboys ...
29 comments:
Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Musée des Peevologies

›
Though I do not aspire to be its curator, a collection of the historical representations of peevology* should be of some use to the student ...
20 comments:
Monday, August 24, 2009

How it works

›
Here’s the deal: Step 1: You (corporation, private firm, educational institution, nonprofit organization) invite me in for a little chat ab...
3 comments:

How I can tell it's Monday

›
Item 1: The first eight words of a story on the front page of a major metropolitan newspaper delivered to my house: Anthony "Tony...
1 comment:
Saturday, August 22, 2009

BFD

›
Get that smirk off your face, kid; this is serious etymology. Jesse Sheidlower, the formidable Editor at Large of the Oxford English Diction...
8 comments:
Friday, August 21, 2009

May I quote you on that?

›
Thirty years in the business, you think you’ve seen it all, and then this : Rebecca Maitland, a freelancer for an edition of the Houston Chr...
10 comments:

Four words

›
After today’s earlier heaviosity , I offer a little contest for the weekend. What is the funniest four-word message you can devise? A classi...
16 comments:

How to question authority

›
For my generation, now so slow to lumber off the stage, a rallying cry was “Question authority.”* It is still a sound principle, and I conti...
6 comments:
Thursday, August 20, 2009

Man vs. machine

›
There is excellent reason to suppose that the designer of the Bryant furnace/air conditioner in my basement suffered from demonic possession...
13 comments:
‹
›
Home
View web version
Powered by Blogger.