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.

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Tell me about your worst undergraduate course

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It was half a century ago, at Michigan State University, and I had disregarded Jean Nicholas's advice to pick courses by the best profes...
1 comment:
Friday, May 31, 2024

That historic verdict

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The conviction yesterday of former President Donald Trump in a New York state court on thirty-four felony counts was, everyone agrees, histo...
8 comments:
Sunday, May 26, 2024

The routine of work

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 Preparations: Small pot of tea brewed,  a chocolate bar unwrapped.  Coffee comes later. To the proof pages. One comma flicked away,  anothe...
Saturday, May 25, 2024

Buyer, beware

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 The Kentucky Derby and the Preakness are past, the Belmont Stakes yet to be run. In Maryland we're all agog over the recently approved ...
2 comments:
Monday, May 13, 2024

Asked and answered

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More in comments on "Ask me anything" : We'll start with the semicolon. 1. What's an easy way to remember the proper times...
Saturday, May 11, 2024

Of course it was about commas

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 When I invited readers earlier today to ask me any question they care to about writing, editing, or English usage, this was the first to a...

Ask me anything

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It’s my own fault.  When The New York Times called to ask for my views on the sale of The Baltimore Sun to David Smith and Armstrong Willi...
6 comments:
Saturday, May 4, 2024

Prosy verse

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 Fifty years ago I imagined that I might be a poet, but when Syracuse University turned me down for the creative writing program, then calle...
3 comments:
Saturday, April 27, 2024

Bemoan, bemoan, bemoan

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My Facebook feed has been cluttered this week with people posting this remark attributed to the late Joseph Sobran: "In 100 years we ha...
2 comments:
Monday, April 22, 2024

Not unusual

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 It has been the custom of the editors of the Associated Press Stylebook  to announce their annual revisions at the national conference of A...
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