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.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Mr. Hawthorne's caution

›
I wonder whether some of us in the paragraph game, finding ourselves abruptly deposited on the street after long tenure with a publication, ...
9 comments:

The Founders' dilemmas

›
Name a text — other than the Bible — that is more revered and less understood than the Constitution of the United States. Can’t? I’m not s...
6 comments:
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Note to copy editors everywhere

›
Anal-retentive takes a hyphen.
6 comments:

Words to watch out for: Accused

›
This headline appears at Baltimoresun.com this morning: Charges dropped against / accused city brothel operator The intention is to iden...
8 comments:
Monday, November 9, 2009

Fading Star

›
I hadn’t planned to write on the The Toronto Star memo that was marked up by a copy editor , given its wide currency on the Internet, but so...
3 comments:
Sunday, November 8, 2009

Wasted words: New initiative

›
It appears to be lost on many that an initiative is something that is being started, and thus new. The word derives from the Latin initiare...
3 comments:
Saturday, November 7, 2009

Testing, testing

›
Tonight is Quiz Night at Memorial Episcopal Church, an event for which I prepared a few questions, and the occasion brought up recollections...
8 comments:
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:
‹
›
Home
View web version
Powered by Blogger.