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.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Flaunting good judgment, flouting bad advice

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Experienced, precise editors maintain distinctions in English usage. That is the badge of our professionalism. But not all distinctions meri...
2 comments:
Monday, December 21, 2015

Distinguishing among distinctions

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I have begun work on a new workshop in which I will attempt to sort out distinctions of usage worth preserving from traditional distinction...
11 comments:
Monday, November 30, 2015

Put an editor on your shelf

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There are uses for The Old Editor Says beyond the contents of the book. Consider its uses as the Editor on a Shelf. Place your copy of ...
Monday, August 10, 2015

For your back-to-school shopping

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Some of you, aspiring writers or parents and relatives of aspiring writers, will be purchasing copies of Strunk and White's Elements of ...
Thursday, June 18, 2015

Metaphors to abhor

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If you had the bad luck to be unable to attend the Editing Goes Global conference in Toronto last week, there is still a chance to catch up ...
1 comment:
Saturday, May 23, 2015

Dolce far niente, British-style

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Few accounts are more tedious than those of other people's vacations. Feel at liberty to skip this one, even if you were wondering where...
2 comments:
Sunday, March 1, 2015

Your America

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Even a has-been politician resorting to outright demagogy can point to matters of interest. Rudolph Giuliani, one-time mayor of New York...
Saturday, February 28, 2015

Working conditions

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As I was grading examinations yesterday morning and posting midterm grades for the editing class, I enjoyed the help of my graduate assista...
Friday, December 12, 2014

Help get a student through the door

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I don't typically come here asking you for money (except when I'm flogging my damn book ), but today I urge you to consider contribu...
1 comment:
Monday, December 1, 2014

A Cyber Monday suggestion

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We pause for a brief commercial message. While you are online, marshaling your forces for Christmas shopping, allow me to suggest that The...
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