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, November 6, 2009

Wasted words: Ongoing

›
In almost all contexts, it is clear when some action, effort, or program is continuing, which renders the word ongoing superfluous. What ...
11 comments:
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Slow down or pay up

›
I blame the TV commercials for automobiles. They all show an individual car — your dream car, your elegant personal machine, your guarante...
16 comments:

The march to trivia

›
Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea. Let’s go to press. Lessee, now. CNN’s lead items: “Loss of softball teammate...
6 comments:
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Dr. Maddow, stick to politics

›
Over at Wishydig, Michael Coavarrubias catches Rachel Maddow in a false correction that expands the erroneous understanding of the split inf...
1 comment:
Monday, November 2, 2009

Hahahahaha

›
According to Wired.com , which ferreted out the identities of the authors of @FakeAPStylebook* on Twitter, the satirical site has quickly ov...
1 comment:
Saturday, October 31, 2009

Before the urchins come clamoring for candy

›
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?

›
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

›
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

›
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

›
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:
‹
›
Home
View web version
Powered by Blogger.