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.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Before the urchins come clamoring for candy

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Item: Wishydig’s recent post, “The English language in America is not threatened,” a point frequently made on these premises, quotes the te...
13 comments:

Is that a demon at the door?

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Thanks to @word_czar on Twitter, I have had the opportunity to read what the Rev. Kimberly Daniels of Jacksonville, Florida, has to say abou...
7 comments:
Friday, October 30, 2009

Hungry for brains

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My son has been inspired to trick himself out for Halloween this year as the title character from Shaun of the Dead , a 2004 zombie comedy w...
4 comments:

What they ought not to have done

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A headline in this morning’s editions of my former paper, The Baltimore Sun : Conversions don’t worry Episocopal bishop Lord, have mercy...
5 comments:
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Mr. Bierce's pronouncements

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I met a reader of antique texts, Who said—A brittle and well-foxed usage tome is catalogued ... its yellowed pages stamped With shattered...
7 comments:
Monday, October 26, 2009

Entitlement

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Somewhere early in my career I came across a rule — probably in the Associated Press Stylebook , that fossil record of unsound usage advice ...
5 comments:
Saturday, October 24, 2009

Can you tell 'live' from 'news'? Facebook can't

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Motoring along the highway or creeping down a city street, I cringe at the sight of a “PROGRESS AHEAD” sign, knowing full well that it means...
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Weekends are for catching up

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Item: While the actual Associated Press Stylebook is unintentionally hilarious, FakeAPStylebook on Twitter is a hoot and a half. Some examp...
3 comments:
Friday, October 23, 2009

Further dispatches in the War on Editing

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Having watched battalions of my comrades fall over the past several years, and having become a casualty myself, I began to hope that the War...
5 comments:
Thursday, October 22, 2009

Said who?

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Is this a new tic of New Yorker style, or have I just begun noticing it? “Horton, you’re one of the few people New York seems to agree wit...
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