The Other Style Council

The Importance of Quote Marks

2008-06-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

Read closely the second "A" in this Q and A regarding California's new driving-with-cellphone regulations and you'll find: Motorists 18 and over may use a "hands-free device."

Notice how "hands-free device" is in quotes. That means it's a joke! We're all off the hook! Of course we don't really have to use a hands-free device while talking and driving. The state is just having a josh with us. Good one, California!

Yeah, sure, I'll get right on that "hands-free device" ... [pause as the tension builds] ... HAHAHAHAHA! Ah, man, that was funny. "Hands-free device" -- yeah right!

Definition of the Day

2008-06-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

diarrhea noun : an intestinal disorder characterized by abnormal frequency and fluidity of fecal evacuations. Also, diarrhoea.

I think this is my favorite definition in the dictionary because it's so goddamn gross.

Peckish

2008-05-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

I've come to the realization that I've never used the word "peckish." What does it even mean, exactly? To me, it conjures images of baby chicks on a farm, but what sort of emotion is that supposed to represent?

So, off to the dictionary.

Turns out peckish means "somewhat hungry" or "rather irritable." At last! I have found the perfect word to describe my wife.

(She'd probably label me "puckish," after the slap.)

Questioningly

2008-05-09T01:59:00.000-07:00

David H. asks:

When using quotes in a story, when do you use "she said" or "she asked." Also, what is the proper punctuation? Here are my examples. Is it:

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Where are you going," she asked.

"Where are you going," she said.

"Where are you going?" she said.

A question mark is indicative of a question, obviously, and standard form is to follow a quotation with "asked." (Or "questioned" or "wondered" or any other suitable synonym.) Using a comma after a question is completely in error, although I do adore commas. And to end a sentence with "she said" when what she said was a question just makes my head hurt.

Thanks for the question.

Still Life With Geraldine

2008-04-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

Gendy asks:

When you're talking about a painting, does still life refer to just paintings of fruit and vegetables and other non-animal things, or does it include people and animals? Also, is it still life or still-life?

Dear Gendy:

First off, thanks again for submitting a question that could be simply solved by consulting a dictionary. You make my job too easy.

Secondly, still life is never hyphenated unless it's used adjectivally. Yes, I said adjectivally.

To quote Webster's, a still life is "a representation chiefly of inanimate objects." I suppose the rub is the word chiefly, since I guess you could take a picture of your finger poking a bowl of fruit and call it a still life, but I wouldn't recommend it.

The final answer: anything that is photographed, painted, or otherwise documented that doesn't move of its own volition may be correctly termed a still life. Not including my penis. (Why did I say that?)

Calibri

2008-02-28T06:13:00.000-08:00

A font better than Helvetica? Discuss.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calibri

Beating a Dead Horse

2008-02-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

What's up with the phrase "beating a dead horse"? Why would anyone beat a dead horse? For that matter, why would anyone beat a live horse? And what's up with eating the hair of the dog that bit you? Who would even think to do that? And why are there so many ways to skin a cat? I have no idea what those ways are, but apparently there's more than one.

Faux pas

2007-12-18T02:32:00.000-08:00

Gendy writes:
Can someone tell me what the plural of faux pas is? Is it faux pases? Fauxs pas?

Dear Gendy:
"Faux pas" may seem intimidating, but it's actually the simplest of phrases to pluralize because it doesn't change. The plural of "faux pas" is "faux pas." How to pronounce it, well, you'll have to ask those dirty French. Here at TOSC, we shower with a dictionary.

Whithersoever

2007-11-06T01:49:00.000-08:00

I'm in love with the word whithersoever. It means "to whatever place we shall go." I want to use this word immediately and indefinitely. But I can't think of a single situation in which to use it, because really if I'm going somewhere then I know where I'm going, so I don't need a whither. Was this word invented before Google maps?

Do "tie" and "Thai" rhyme?

2007-10-24T05:10:00.000-07:00

The other members of The Other Style Council out-voted me on this one, but I cannot admit defeat.

In the secret underground lair that houses the copy desk of The Other Style Council, I dared to declare that "tie" rhymes with "Thai." Apparently, Gaines and Falling J are bent on having L.A. Weekly (and the world!) believe that these words are homonyms, not rhymes. (They're actually homophones, but that just sounds gay.)

I'd make up a poem right now, but no one would appreciate it.

OK, what the hell: "There once was a murderous Thai / who completed his wardrobe with tie / to the cops he confessed / he was way overdressed / and the jury vote ended in tie."

Not a rhyme? Please!

Finger parentheses

2007-10-19T01:07:00.000-07:00

Making finger quotation marks to convey that you're being ironic or quoting something is both annoying and fun. So why doesn't anybody use finger parentheses? It's just as easy to curve your hands like parentheses as it is to move your index and middle fingers up and down. The next time I tell someone about the origins of the name Godzilla (it comes from the Japanese "Gojira"), I'm definitely using some finger parentheses.

Warning: Using finger quotes inside finger parentheses may be hazardous to your phalanges.

White

2007-08-27T02:09:00.000-07:00

There's an h in white, right? But you don't pronounce it. At least that's what the dictionary would have you believe. As my ever-faithful lapdog Craig points out, I like the h in white so much I put it before the w. I say "Hwite." Try it! It sounds sexy and the girls love it.

Land of the Free

2007-05-01T00:09:00.000-07:00

David H. from Virginia Beach asks:

Which statement is correct? Both?

"I got a new shirt for free."
"I got a new shirt free."

This is a common conversation with my father; he laughs at the commercials that say "You can get this for free."

Thanks for writing, David. There's a simple answer to your question, as well as a complicated one.

The simple answer is both are correct.

The complicated answer is that "for free" is considered an idiom. Like slang, it's slightly less acceptable but not grammatically incorrect. Among the many definitions of free in Webster's Dictionary is "without cost, payment, or charge." To say "I got a new shirt without charge" is appropriate, although ridiculously formal, whereas "I got a new shirt for without charge" sounds retarded. Curiously, if you consider free to be the equivalent of $0.00, then it becomes a noun, and "for free" would seem the correct usage and "free" entirely incorrect. Webster's does not address this. The only noun version of free is given as "people who are free," as in "land of the free." Maybe the Webster's editors just don't like math.

TOSC Salutes Jonathan Gold

2007-04-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

Congrats on the Pulitzer win, Mr. Gold. But we have one quibble: Your copy is too damn squeaky clean. I mean, every once in a while I have to look up a phrase to determine if it should be italicized or romanized. You call that fun? Big whoop! Sometimes it's so bad I sit for a minute considering whether to insert a serial comma just to make myself feel useful as an editor.

Honestly, this is torture. When a copy editor can't give a writer a complex about his messy copy, the editor is the one who ends up with the complex. There is nothing more maddening than looking at a galley you've just proofed and seeing maybe three edits. First you worry that you've missed something. Then you're just disappointed by the experience. It's like expecting to see Grindhouse but accidentally entering the theater where the latest Disney movie is playing. Where's the gore?!?!

So, congrats on the Pulitzer and all, but in the future, please keep us copy editors in mind.

|||||

But let's be honest. Why is Mr. G's copy so airtight? Because he started at the Weekly as a proofreader! His last quote in our story on his win should make everyone in TOSC Land proud.

Will the real copy editor please stand up?

2007-04-05T04:50:00.000-07:00

LEF, Court Dog, Gaines, Gendy.

Sherbert or Sherbet?

2007-03-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

Turns out it's sherbet. There's no such thing as sherbert, regardless how much you desire a deliciously citrus-flavored icy treat right now. The r is all in your mind.

Much like the lounge in chaise longue. It's a long chair!

M!ch!gan Madness

2007-02-19T21:29:00.000-08:00

I've always told people that the more official adjective for my people is "Michiganian," while the colloquial term is "Michigander." Imagine my surprise, then, when I learn today that American Heritage and Webster's lists "Michigander" as their first preference!

I can't imagine why that'd be. I seem to remember that most newspapers use the term "Michiganian." And it sounds more official, more conservative, doesn't it? (By the way, I've never in my life heard of a "Michiganite," which Webster's lists.) If there are any lexicographers out there in the TOSC readership, lemme know.

This will now, of course, force me to do some deep soul-searching about who I am and what I call myself. I've always insisted on the "Michigander" label; the word's slight gawkiness and what I assumed to be alternative nature held much more appeal to me. Jim Blanchard is a Michiganian; I'm a Michigander. Or am I? Now that my two main dictionaries have spoken, do I attempt another verbal flipping of the bird at The Man by going with "Michiganian"? Or by doing that am I falling right into The Man's hands? By slavishly rebelling against the dictionaries' proscriptions, am I in fact giving The Man even more power?

My guess is I'll stick with "Michigander." For one thing, it's what I'm used to. For another, I feel it allows me to better show off my nasally dominated Upper Midwestern accent. To sound like me, you've gotta hit a hard, hard "a." None of that soft-vowel crap that Californians like to pull.

And, anyway, that's what the dictionaries would have me say.

Barely Conscious*

2007-02-08T09:15:00.000-08:00

Lately there’s been a dreadfully appalling misuse of a word that’s crept into the popular consciousness: conscious. Perhaps it’s foolish to attempt to redirect the rising tide of bad grammar; today’s phrase-mangling misusage is often, after all, tomorrow’s hip phrase to drop at parties. But we must make a stand, a last surge, if you will, to win this war before “conscious” becomes the new “quality.” As in “That book has quality.” Yes, but what kind of quality? Good? Bad? Neither? Sideways? It’s similar to how people employ the word “poetic” to mean “good poetry” (“Her jump shot was poetic”). Just because something is termed poetic — which is, after all, merely a form of expression — doesn’t mean that it’s inherently good poetry.

Let’s examine the recent trend of using the word “conscious” in sentences such as “He’s a conscious rapper.” The speaker appears to mean that the rapper is of a higher consciousness, perhaps more socially evolved or politically aware than others. The message could also be that the rapper is conscious of the world around him, that he’s focused and living in the moment. (It seems to imply — at least subconsciously — that the rapper is operating from his subconscious.) Maybe the speaker is actually opining that the musician has a conscience of some sort. However, what he’s literally saying is that the rapper is awake, which is hardly remarkable in itself (apart from the amount of chronic said rapper might have smoked). Yes, one can be a “conscious” rapper, but is he of a higher or lower consciousness? A rapper with a conscience doesn’t suddenly become a conscious rapper — these are two different words and meanings. (Though a rapper with a conscience should presumably be conscious, at least part of the time, to fight the power.) It must be noted that there isn’t yet a clear, formal consensus on whether it is desirable to even possess a conscience. Some rappers are now celebrated for having a conscience, and yet pro-basketball star Kobe Bryant claims that he was actually praising the shot selection of Gilbert Arenas when he stated that Arenas did not have a conscience. (Of course, style arbiter Bryant often uses words in contradictory, perhaps even deceptive, ways, such as when he insisted that he didn’t mean to strike Manu Ginobili in the face during a wildly theatrical follow-through in attempting to draw a foul from Ginobili.)

Fact is, this new “conscious” fad is a clumsy conflating of the unconflatable. (Er, is “unconflatable” a word? Perhaps to mean “to be against the contrary inflating of life rafts, balloons and such things,” among other possibilities? Only time — and popular misusage — will tell. But this might be inventing a word, as opposed to misusing a perfectly understandable word like “conscious,” a much more serious crime.)

Are you still conscious?

—Falling James

*Revised at 6:30 p.m., Thurs., Feb. 8

Just to Clarify ...

2007-02-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

... Derek isn't actually 4 feet tall. He is of average height.

We do enjoy the new photo though. See how much fun copy editors can have at work? We're a virtual recruiting poster.

Also:

I hear from one of my people in the editing community that AP has made a change: It's now "backyard," one word, in all instances. Boss Caplan should be happy about that.

And the Humble Apostrophe Causes Chest-Beating and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth at Albertsons

2007-02-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

It's come to my attention that Albertsons is suffering from a serious case of apostropheosis. A quick survey of my private-label-loving apartment reveals that some products bear the "Albertsons" mark while others read "Albertson's." My people, this is why the world needs copy editors. We're not just talking about a silly apostrophe; it's much deeper. One of L.A.'s major grocers is suffering from a crushing existential crisis. Does it want to be "Albersons": more than one Albertson? Or does it prefer "Albertson's": that which belongs to Albertson? Who is this Albertson? Why does he vacillate so on this issue of punctuational propriety? What black mark upon his soul renders him impotent when he faces this crucial decision: To insert or not insert an apostrophe?

Do you see, my people? Do you see what happens when the copy editors aren't consulted? We have nothing less than a full-blown psychic disaster on our hands. All because some brazen middle manager thought to greenlight an alternate logo without following the proper channels and procedures. Probably some hotshot fresh out of USC trying to make a splash. Instead he's caused bloody, bloody hell.

I hope this is a lesson to everyone. Copy editors are important, and you should consult them on almost all matters. God save your soul if you don't.

On Properly Misspelling Words

2007-02-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

There's only one instance I can think of in which purposefully misspelling words is justified: When the writer is trying to impersonate a drunkard. This is a tricky proposition, because the writer wants to maintain a level of quality and clarity to his work, but also make his prose just jagged enough to seem like he's put a serious dent in a bottle of Beam.

If I may, a great example of this can be found on a blog attached to another little project of mine. The Star Blog (follow the links on the site if you're curious about the back story; I won't take up your time here) is written by a good friend of TOSC. His first post on the site is written in what's supposed to be a drunken stupor. I'm biased, but I think the writer does a bang-up job. Here's the money line:

In closing, I’d like to say that it is an honor and a privilege to server the great community of Great HAven with this new websit.

Notice how the sentence is still easy to read; the reader doesn't need to go back over the line to gather its meaning. But it's strewn with just enough errors -- believable errors -- that he seems credibly drunk. And angry. And a little pathetic.

My guess is The Star Blog is going to feature a few more drunken rambles, so connoisseurs of the inebriated word may want to check back in.

Just Remember These

2007-01-25T18:47:00.000-08:00

If I should be swallowed by a shark tomorrow (no particular reason why, just ...), let me leave you with these final bullet points:

In headlines, you need to capitalize "Is" and "It." The first is a verb, the second a pronoun. Just do it.
An ellipsis is three periods. Not four, not five. Three. And there should be a space on either side.
It's "home in," not "hone in."
It's "revolve around" and "center on." Not "center around."
Apostrophes don't denote plurals. Apostrophes don't denote plurals. Apostrophes don't denote plurals. (Unless we're talking about single letters or numbers, but don't worry about that right now.)
Also in headlines, if a word is more than three letters, capitalize it. Even piddly words like "from" or "than." Just do it.

Best. Word. Ever?

2007-01-09T13:01:00.001-08:00

During the course of copy-editing a culinary class catalogue for a freelance client, I came across what might be the greatest word in the dictionary:

spatchcock

Not only is it just really cool to say, dig on the two completely divergent definitions given in Webster's:

1. [Brit.] to split open and broil (a fowl)
2. [Informal] a) to interpolate (a word or words) in or into a text, often hastily or inappropriately b) to put together so as to form a unit or whole, often a clumsy or incongruous one

I mean, how cool is that? Can you imagine a sentence in which the editor would have to say to the writer, "Um, can we use another word than the second instance of 'spatchcock' here? It seems we've accidentally repeated it."

"Harris, who was busy spatchcocking a Cornish hen, didn't realize that he'd just spatchcocked several paragraphs of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus into his introduction to The Young People's Christian Bible for Today and Tomorrow."

Get Web on the Horn!

2007-01-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

I think the L.A. Times printed product is pretty superb. The Web site, not always so much. I notice silly little errors in heds and teaser lines fairly regularly. Peep this lead hed from Sunday morning's site. (Tried to take a screen shot, but my computer isn't much help.)

First one to spot the error wins a TOSC T-shirt!

U.S., allies campaigning to staunch Iran's oil flow

By Kim Murphy

Washington is quietly persuading banks and oil companies to pull out of projects that would expand the nation's petroleum infrastructure.

Technology: It Makes Life More Convenient, Unless You're a Copy Editor

2006-12-28T23:28:00.000-08:00

TOSC friend Mark M. writes:

Why does the L.A. Weekly cap the word "Internet"? And also, if memory serves me, "Web site" and "Web"? Do we consider technology so God-like?

Let me answer the last question first: Yes. The Other Style Council believes that technology is well on its way to solving all the world's problems, including: Our pesky inability to travel backward and forward through time, my costly knack for not returning my library books on time, and women's maddening refusal to speak to me.

But we have to leave those issues up to the cabal of God-like super scientists who secretly rule planet Earth. The Other Style Council will be content to just answer your style questions. Therefore:

Mark, there's some disagreement among the copy-editing ranks about this. "Internet," "Web" and "Web site" were capped when they first came on the scene because they were so singular, so life changing, that they seemed to demand the initial caps. I mean, the phenomenon that gave us Pets.com has to be uppercase, right?

But now that we're a decade or so out from Bob Dole inventing the Internet (yeah, everyone thinks it was Gore, but it was actually the distinguished senator from Kansas), these terms have settled right down into the lexicon so comfortably that more and more copy folks are wondering if we shouldn't lowercase them. There's a pretty valid argument to be made that "Internet" etc. aren't proper nouns. They're not copyrighted phrases, and there's only one Internet. It's not like there's different proprietary worldwide computer networks that require distinguishing proper designations.

I, though, continually want to keep capping "Internet" etc. This is largely because I'm so comfortable with those phrases being uppercase that they reside in that part of my mind that allows me to expend virtually no brain power while reading them during the editing process: I see "internet," cap it and move on.

But the Internet also hits me as something more than just a big damn collection of wires. I buy into all this hokum about the Internet being a place, a community. Like Heaven, but with pitch-by-pitch updates of Tigers games. So I say we keep it capped.

***

Kate, we haven't forgotten your question about "momentarily." It's just that that query is going to take some research, and I'm getting ready to go to Michigan for New Year's, and, and ...

It Is Hoped That I'm Getting This Right

2006-12-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

Joe D. (true-blue TOSC backer, surfer, vaguely proud Keystone Stater, renaissance man, sudden yeller of various exclamations) has asked for a post on "hopefully." I've stuck to the time-honored TOSC tradition of waiting days if not weeks to post after a request is made; now is the time.

My homeboy Bryan Garner, author of the priceless Dictionary of Modern American Usage, calls "hopefully" a "skunked term" -- its meaning has shifted over the years to the point that it's now mired in a lexical purgatory, forever haunted by its old and new usages. It's the Marley's ghost of words. (Okay, it's probably better to the call it the Virgil or words, but it's the Christmas season. And what snob would make a Virgil reference in a blog post?)

Your English teacher will tell you that "hopefully" is an adverb meaning "in a hopeful manner." By that strict definition, it should only be used to describe an action: "Joe pointed hopefully to the surf, searching for that one gnarly wave."

Your L.A. Weekly critic/feature writer/news reporter will tell you that "hopefully" means "it is to be hoped." So old sticklers go nuts over sentences like these: "Hopefully, Joe won't be eaten alive by that gnarly wave."

The second usage is far and away the predominant one, and sages like Garner have given up. "Whatever the merits of those arguments [against the new usage], the battle is now over. Hopefully is now a part of American English, and it has all but lost its traditional meaning." Webster's, in a huge cop-out, gives both as acceptable definitions.

So here we are, stuck again in the gray soup that is the English language. What to do? Let clarity be your guide! When it comes to a tweener word like "hopefully," let's forget the English teacher and just be sure we're using it in a way that conveys clear meaning. The masses won on this one, and, as the brilliant Bugs Bunny used to say, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

To Apostrophe or Not To Apostrophe

2006-12-04T22:45:00.000-08:00

TOSC reader David H. from Virginia Beach, Virginia, asks:

If I were to write about buying more than one compact disc I would write "I bought 17 new CDs." Is this correct? What makes me ask is that we were on I-95 today and I saw a sign that read "RV's and Trucks Welcome." The apostrophe s marks possessive, right?

The apostrophe-s does indeed denote possession. It's a rare case that an apostrophe is used for a plural, but it happens. "I got two A's and three B's on my report card" is an example of how apostrophes help to clarify the plurals of single letters. But this is an exception to the rule.

For acronyms, the standard is to pluralize them with a single s, although this standard is not particularly standard, especially among highway sign workers.

I Love Arial

2006-11-18T01:42:00.000-08:00

It's my favorite font. Nothing fancy, nothing crazy, it's just there when you need it. And it always looks fabulous.

Don't even get me started on Arial Narrow, because that's nothing more than an anorexic bastardization.

Times New Roman should go die a quiet death.

Helvetica? So 1990.

Pupcat, Jokerman and Matisse can go fuck themselves.

Let's Just Go Ahead and Call This Incredible

2006-11-16T23:03:00.000-08:00

For as long as I've been at the L.A. Weekly ('bout a year and a quarter now), the proofreading department has had a strong horizontal bias in how it situates its reference books. Every copy editor has three vital stylebooks at his work station: the local stylebook, The Associated Press Stylebook, and The American Heritage College Dictionary.

I consult these books, especially the dictionary, dozens of times per shift. The only downside to this (because I can't think of any others -- reading reference books is the best!) is constantly having to pull a needed book from beneath other books. This presents all sorts of hazards: Books could fall off the desk, books might bump into something else, a hand could get trapped between two books (more on that in a minute). But for months now, I've just considered that part of the job.

Until now. For some reason, Mother Innovation decided to poke me with her Magical Idea Wand today. The moment she did, I made a bold decision in how I arrange my reference books:

That's right: I went vertical. Now I can reach for my stylebook in a snap, without worry of disturbing its fellows. I won't have to constantly rearrange an unwieldy bibliohazardous heap. With the saved time, I figure I'll become .037 times more efficient at the Weekly (and, yes, supervisors o' mine, I'd love a raise to recognize my workplace ecological genius).

Not to mention the fact that I've now made my work station safer. Consider what could happen in the bad old horizontal days:

Ouch! My hand! This immense dictionary is crushing my tender digits! OSHA! OSHA!

But now witness life in our brave new vertical world:

Ah! The new arrangement makes reaching for books positively a joy! Isn't this the kind of thing that made Ralph Nader famous?

So let this be the first step upon the Path to Revolution, my copy-editing comrades! Shake free the chains of horizontal reference-book stacking! Stand up for yourselves and for ecological efficiency! Huzzah!

"Whether or Not?" I Say Not to "Not," But Yes to "Whether." Just Read the Damn Post

2006-11-16T15:07:00.000-08:00

I have a few usage hang-ups that send me up a tree. I read them, and my central nervous system orders my brain to flood my system with whatever chemical makes you really ... y'know, nutso angry.

One of those is the phrase "whether or not," which is used in common English 3.2 billion times a day. Consider it: Where's the contrast? Is there one option -- "whether" -- competing with another -- "not"? Nope. Taken literally, it's a meaningless phrase. In every single instance, just using the word "whether" is more accurate, more concise, more ... better.

STUPID: I can't tell whether or not Courtney or Derek will ever post to TOSC again.
NOT STUPID: I can't tell whether Courtney or Derek will ever post to TOSC again.
POSSIBLY EVEN LESS STUPID: I can't tell if Courtney or Derek will ever post to TOSC again.

See what I mean? The Not Stupid and Possibly Even Less Stupid sentences are just as clear (I'd argue clearer) and don't employ some meaningless phrase cribbed from vernacular speech.

At some point while writing this post, I've become very upset over "whether or not," it's such a stupid goddamn phrase. So, please, people, stop using it. Next time I see it, I'm punching James in the head.

Proofreading Is Hilarious!

2006-11-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

The Onion gets it.

Thanks to Siran B. for passing along the link!

2006-11-09T23:51:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of copy editing the last L.A. Weekly news story edited by Alan Mittelstaedt today. My only disappointment was that the story was so well edited and written that I had relatively few queries. Meaning I had an excuse to hang out in Alan's office for only a minute or so.

TOSC wishes Alan and the six other recently dismissed Weekly staffers all the best.

A Long Overdue Reply

2006-11-07T11:25:00.000-08:00

Longtime TOSC reader and fan Tim Ericson asked us "Eon"s ago about usage of the word "thusly." Tim, this post's for you.

While Webster's allows "thusly" in informal usage as an adverb, Bryan Garner's A Dictionary of Modern American Usage says: "Thus itself being an adverb, it needs no -ly. Although the nonword thusly has appeared in otherwise respectable writing, it remains a serious lapse."

Thanks for reading, Tim.

Hang Ten w/TOSC

2006-11-01T04:54:00.000-08:00

Falling James & Bad D

Punctuation Is Dying

2006-10-26T00:11:00.000-07:00

"Punctuation, online at least, is dying. It's so badly misused that it's a rare occasion when I can catch up on my feeds without flinching at some of the horrendous punctuation. The worst part of it all is that nobody seems to notice this gradual decline; or care. I fear it may be the latter."

more from nostrich.net

Fixing the Gate

2006-10-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

We've had another spate of "-gate" incidents recently. Well, two (does two qualify as a spate?): Foleygate and Pine tar-gate (or Smudgegate or Pinetargate). What to do with these "-gate"s?

Well, other than avoid them because they're ever-so-lame cliches, you have to look at the root word to discern how to append "-gate." If it's one word, like "Foley," you don't use a hyphen: "Foleygate." But if it's two words (and Webster's has "pine tar," although I've seen it one word), I'd tell you to join the second word and "-gate" with a hyphen. The L.A. Weekly would tell you to use an en dash, which we'll get into another day.

And, finally, I'd just say that everyone should leave Kenny Rogers alone. So he had some pine tar in his glove. Big deal! Every pitcher in the Majors uses the gunk. Hell, I've heard Tony La Russa uses it to color his hair.

Ordonez vs. Ordoñez

2006-10-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

Magglio Ordoñez, the patron saint of Detroit, is from Venezuela, where they do funny things with names. For instance, Magglio's dad, Maglio, added an extra "g" to his little slugger's name for good luck.

They also like to put those funny accent thingys (when I want to impress the ladies, I call them diacritical marks) over certain letters. Like "Ordoñez." But then why do most newspapers and Web sites do "Ordonez"? It's because many publications take a scorched-earth style policy to accents. They figure that they print in English, English doesn't use diacritical marks, they don't need no stinking diacritical marks.

I agree with that, except for names. "Resume" looks dumb with those cowlicks sticking off each "e," but a name is a name. So long as the name is impossible to read as spelled (let's say some punk rocker named Fred spelled his name "#$%@!^^^^" -- I'd still want to spell it "Fred"), I think publications should honor name spellings.

And, honestly, we should do whatever Magglio asks these days. Viva los Tigres!

Pith vs. Pithy

2006-10-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

During a freelance proofing job recently, I came across the following sentence in a caption: "To zest an orange, remove only the thin outer layer of skin, without the white pithy underlayer, using a sharp paring knife, vegetable peeler or zester, and mince."

I chuckled at the use of "pithy," which, I learned upon consulting Webster's, wasn't incorrect. In fact, its first definition ("of, like, or full of pith") told me that it was absolutely the correct usage. But I recommended changing it to "pith." Why?

Because when I read "pithy," I was inferring Webster's second definition: "terse and full of substance or meaning." Even though the word was being used correctly, I made the judgment that Webster's second definition was what would come to readers' minds, which would probably lead them to chuckle much as I did (well, not exactly. I mean, I have a pretty distinctive chuckle -- think Ed Grimley).

My point? Copy editing isn't always about rigid rules. Sometimes you have to go on feel, like the way Jim Leyland puts together a lineup. If a construction hits you as peculiar, you've gotta change it.

And, if you're wondering, it does not bug me that I changed an adjective to a noun. I think it still works. So there.

Engrish

2006-10-07T03:26:00.000-07:00

The Japanese have an "r"/"l" problem. The reason is that their alphabet has only one representation of what we know in English as two sounds, "r" and "l." Apparently, they just can't get their tongues in the right place (come on, people, back of the teeth for "l"!).

More unintentional butchering of the English language here: Engrish.com

In Defense of the Apostrophe

2006-10-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

This smashing Web concern was forwarded to me by TOSC Midwestern Bureau Chief Leslie Rotan, who wields the grammarian's bitch-slap at The Detroit News.

Cheers, Rotan!

These Are the Thoughts That Shoot Through My Head Whilst Proofreading

2006-10-02T16:46:00.000-07:00

Why do writers want to incorrectly hyphenate every prefix-word construction under the sun ("multi-dimensional") except for "recreate,"* one of the few such words that should take the hyphen? And then I think, maybe it's a little gift from the writers to me. It's the writers saying, "Hey, Craig, here's an easy little mistake for you to knock off. You won't have to go searching all over the place for the answer, and you'll feel good about yourself for cleaning up the copy."

And, you know what? I do feel better about myself. Thanks, writers.

*"To create again" should be "re-create" because otherwise it would be confused with the verb form of "recreation."

Who Knew?

2006-10-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

"Elbowroom" is one word according to Webster's. Neat!

Aargh!

2006-09-29T02:13:00.000-07:00

The L.A. Weekly's annual Best of L.A. issue is imminent (hits the streets October 5th, I dare say), and this year's theme is "pirates." Yes, pirates. As in gold doubloons and parrots-on-the-shoulder. This theme won out in editorial meetings over its closest challenger (submitted by blurbologist extraordinaire Libby Molyneaux): "chicken." That's right, a double-sized issue of the L.A. Weekly could have classified all the bests of Los Angeles according to their relevance to chicken. Well, maybe next year. FYI: I've already applied for editor of the "breasts" section.

Jesus.

2006-09-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

This gives new meaning to the term "holy shit."

http://bitsandpieces1.blogspot.com/2006/09/jesus-image-found-in-dogs-butt.html

The Insignificance of michigan

2006-09-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

As much as I admire my esteemed colleague Mr. Gaines...and as much as I revere AP style...I must alert everyone that the times they are a-changin'...

Thus, I officially move that we have our Weekly style reflect the prevailing modern view on the once-great mitten state as detailed here in ANTM style:

http://www.cwtv.com/page/topmodel_photosView_CariDee.html

Select the "in the pool" video for the latest, most relevant viewpoint on Lansing's home.

I mean, if no one important really thinks Michigan is important, why in the hell should we capitalize it? The lakes aren't that great.

Ergo, I move that the mitten-shaped "state" and all references to it be written with a lower case "m" in our paper. For example:

"Craig claims to like sports. With the same bizarre glee, he also claims to be a michigander. However, we find this confusing because michigan is so meaningless. He should just go ahead and say he's from Texas, like all the smart, successful people do."

All those in favor, please see David Caplan, Copy Chief.

Attack of the Monkies

2006-09-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, L.A. Weekly designer extraordinaire Ryan Ward called me at my desk with a simple question: How do you spell the plural of "monkey"? Before I could really think about it, I said "m-0-n-k-i-e-s." Judging by the reaction of my co-workers, you would have thought I'd just committed an act of high treason.

The hoots and hollers of derision (monkeylike, now that I think of it) rained down upon my poor head. I quickly corrected myself to Ryan ("Sorry, dude, the executioners in here just told me it's "m-o-n-k-e-y-s") and prepared for a day's worth of ridicule. When you're first entering the copy editing world, experienced folk will tell you about some of the job perils: odd hours, lack of recognition, a lifetime of staring into a cold computer monitor. But what they don't tell you about -- primarily so they can embarrass the living hell out of you after your first miscue -- is that copy editors love to jump all over their colleagues' mistakes.

We're so bad at the Weekly that we pounce if someone mispronounces a French term or doesn't use the subjunctive when it's required. (But we have the utmost respect for our writers. We never make fun of the mistakes we correct in copy. Honestly.) I tell you, entering that room every day is like climbing into a steel cage in preparation for a Grammatical WrestleMania against a half-dozen nerdly Ultimate Warriors.

So if you're interested in the alluring world of copy editing, have the chops, know your style ... and develop a thick skin.

*****

Many thanks to LA Observed for the link. Now we're more paranoid than ever about mistakes on this thing!

Dictionary Madness!!!

2006-09-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

Pity me. At the Weekly, I use an American Heritage dictionary as my weapon and partner in spelling enforcement. But in my freelance work, I use Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition. Big deal, you say? Think again, TOSC fans. Consider just these two crucial differences:

A.H.'s first preference is "work force" (two words), while Webster's first preference is "workforce."

Further, A.H. spells it "ambiance," while Webster's tells me it's "ambience."

And that's just two discrepancies. Then figure in that some pubs use A.P. style, others use Chicago, and all of them have their own local styles. How does one copy editor keep it all straight?

Superhuman intelligence, that's how. I don't like to talk about it much, but I was bitten by a radioactive, nerdy monkey when I was a child. Besides the fleas, that incident also bestowed upon me a preternatural ability to keep a multitude of styles and lexicographical philosophies stored in my mind at the same time.

And, no, I don't throw poop as a result of the monkey bite. That's just Craig being Craig.

Bad D, Seriously

2006-08-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

Bad D, Seriously
Originally uploaded by cbg_rocketfever.

We've taken to luring writers guilty of egregious apostrophe errors into the proofreading room, where Derek dons the Mask of Anger and forces them into the Pit of Everlasting Regret.

So, remember, apostrophes denote possession or contraction, NOT plurals. And if you've never gotten the apostrophe-s/s-apostrophe thing down, well, you're in trouble.

Weird vs. Wierd

2006-08-22T05:34:00.000-07:00

Weird is undoubtably the sassiest adjective in the English lexicon. It boldly violates the i-before-e rule, and it rhymes with neither "neighbor" nor "way," yet it is spelled as if it rhymed with both (which it clearly doesn't). Weird is the thinking man's bizarre (one z, two r's!).

Personally I prefer awesome.

TOSC Quiz No. 1

2006-08-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

What's wrong with the following sentence?*

The Super Friends agreed Monday to consider logical help for Spider-Man's peacekeeping force in Michigan's troubled Greenville region.

The first to answer correctly wins a TOSC T-shirt!**

*TOSC members may not participate.
**Libby Molyneaux is responsible for production and distribution of TOSC T-shirts.

NOW You Have Style: An Introduction

2006-08-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

The flattery runs deep. I am honored to be a part of The Other Style Council. I look forward to sounding off officially on dangling modifiers--especially Jamie's.

Joining Jamie in this online collision of souls and crucial musings on punctuation is something I've been jonesing for daily. But could someone please tell me why Jamie's always crying? And why he's always got a gun?

Seriously now: It's about time you stopped the sexism. Good work. Thanks for keeping it real, as Jamie might say.

NOW, this s**t is about to get good.

--Court Dog

Northern Michigan's Assault on the Apostrophe

2006-07-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

OR: The Barkleys vs. the Hamilton's

LAKE GEORGE, Mich.—Signs like these are cherished details of the lake life Up North in Michigan. Just about everybody's cottage has a whimsical sign announcing who has a pontoon on the lake and a barbecue on the back deck. Sadly, many of these markers are also soldiers in the war against proper apostrophe use.

Consider the above signs. The top sign announces that the Barkleys — plural of Barkley, a family of people with the last name of Barkley — live in a cabin to the left. But the bottom sign, what does that say? Something belonging to "the Hamilton" — singular — is to the right? Why the apostrophe?

Because too many folks incorrectly think the apostrophe denotes a plural. Folks, this one is easy: Apostrophes denote possession and contraction, period (there are rare instances when they can denote plurals, but we'll discuss that in a later conversation). If the cabin to the right belongs to more than one Hamilton, all we need is to add an "s" to "Hamilton." No possession needed. Anyway, if they were meaning to denote possession, the apostrophe would come after the "s" — to let people know that the cabin belongs to more than one Hamilton.

Pat, is that SNOOTy enough for you?

"Google" Enters the Dictionary

2006-07-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

Merriam-Webster has confirmed what we've all known for a few years: "Google" can be a verb as well as a noun. One thing that I'm not comfortable with yet: M-W has it lowercased as a verb. Since it's based on a proper noun that still has high currency, shouldn't it be capped? As the LAT story says, the Oxford English Dictionary caps it. Maybe the English do know a thing or two about the language.

*****

Long-time reader, first-time e-mailer Tim E. has submitted a ruling to us on the word "thusly." Expect that post soon.

MLJ from Cleveland Asks:

2006-06-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

QUESTION: "Hots"? What is that, a British thing?
ANSWER: Yes, and it's a crazy British thing at that. A little-known fact of etymological history is that the British, while basically inventors of the English language, are also insane. The American Revolution was based only partly on "no taxation without representation" and all that. What our Founding Fathers were really worried about was having to speak like these nutjobs for the next few centuries.

Actual quote from Tom Paine: "When I piss, I use a chamber pot, dammit, not a loo."

Further, the Shot Heard 'Round the World came from the American side, and it was predicated on a Brit saying, "You can knock me down with a kipper if I'm tellin' yer porkies Missus!" The Yankee, having no clue what the cockney imperialist said but taking it for an insult, shot him dead. Which started the war, which eventually led to America celebrating its bounty of freedoms every Fourth of July.

So when you sing the National Anthem as the fireworks explode and bald eagles fly above you this Fourth, give thanks also for your freedom to speak beautiful, pure American English.

"Ode to a Black Man" and the Personal Pronoun

2006-06-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

"Ultraglide in Black," by Detroit's very own Dirtbombs, is always close at hand in the Craig Car (2000 Ford Focus -- Michigan pride! Buy American! My next car will be a Toyota!). I was bopping along to the band's version of Philip Lynott's "Ode to a Black Man" the other day when a few lines from the song reminded me of a common error: using the pronoun "that" when referring to a person. Dig these lyrics:

There are people in this town
That try to put me down
They say I don't give a damn
But the people in this town
That try to put me down
Are the people in the town
That could never understand a black man

Those three instances of "that" should actually be "who" because they're referring to people -- people who try to put him down, people who could never understand a black man. The pronoun "that" is used in reference to objects, not people: "There are ice cream trucks in this town/That try to put me down."

Granted, I'm not about to seek out Mick Collins and tell the man how to cover his songs. But I thought it seemed like a fun grammar lesson for the day.

***

Coming up: MLJ from Cleveland has a hot question about British usage!

Errr vs. Uh...

2006-06-21T03:39:00.000-07:00

We humans, being imperfect creatures -- despite our remarkable ability to communicate via verbal and, even more remarkably, written language (the Japanese didn't have it till China tipped them off) -- sometimes find ourselves sliding into what I like to call the approximation ditch.

This is the place where verbal sounds are approximated into written words, but all too often their spelling is wildly off from what they were intended to denote. (See my thesis on kokekokko, Japanese for cock-a-doodle-doo.)

Case in point: the pause in speech that's often written as "uh" but is even more often written as "errr." As in, "Errr... I think so."

Maybe it's my ridiculously high appreciation for the California accent as the new standard for King James English, but please. Errr...? I think not. It's as wrong as "To uh is human," if you know what I mean.

The Introductory Comma Seems to Be Gaining Traction

2006-06-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

Let me draw your attention to your MySpace home page. And don't try any crap about your not having one. We all have one. Get over it.

How does your page greet you? It says, "Hello, [Name]!" Notice that cute little comma there? It's serving an important purpose: It's telling you that MySpace is addressing you rather than telling you to do something. If the comma were (subjunctive! Bangles!) not there, MySpace would be telling you to perform an action called "Hello [Name]."

I don't know how to "Hello [Name]." But, then again, I haven't even lived in L.A. for a whole year yet.

***

For further reading on the introductory comma, see this seminal piece of punctuation prose.

The Bangles, Prince and the Use of the Subjunctive

2006-06-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

(Don't call it a comeback, we been here for years ... wait, that's LL, but still stands as a nice segue from our prolonged absence. Onward.)

I was going about my customary Sunday shopping at Albertson's yesterday when a line from the Bangles' "Manic Monday" caught my ear: "I wish it were Sunday."

Fantastic! I thought. These chicks (turns out it was Prince) know the difference between the subjunctive and the indicative! Susanna Hoffs realizes it isn't actually Sunday, she just wishes it were Sunday! They get it. Pop culture acknowledges the English language.

Why is it, then, that every lyrics site I find has the line as "I wish it was Sunday"? Did I hear the line incorrectly? Am I such a word nerd that I internally edit what I hear so that improper usage won't cause me continual mental meltdown? Or did these lyrics folks just transcribe the song in error?

Is there a 1980s music aficionado in the house? Help me.

Partial Glossary of Terms

2006-05-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

Über

2006-05-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

I'm cool with the umlauts and all, but please let's use a hyphen. Über is not a prefix, it's a foreign word. I admit that über somehow fell into the prefix crowd, maybe because everybody thought it was cool. Hey, it's German! But, come on, it's nowhere in the league of un or anti. I see it more like pseudo, which, while totally gay on its own, does serve a useful purpose. Über is simply pretentious. Sure, it's fun to have around, but it's got to go home when the party's over. And, kids, the cops just arrived.

Viz

2006-05-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

Gendy asks:

I have a grammar/style question: When do you use "i.e." versus "e.g." versus "viz"? I'm betting that only Craig knows the answer to this question, and that Derek will pretend to know, but won't really know.

The Other Style Council responds:

My pretend-to-know answer is that i.e. means "that is" and e.g. means "for example." The distinction is that i.e. is used to offer a single synonym or definition, whereas e.g. is followed by a list.

Viz is the pompous version of both, and it stands for "videlicit." Kooky audio pronunciations here:

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=videlicet&x=15&y=15

Am I A Word Guy Because of Monty Python?

2006-05-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

By gorn, I think I am.

If you can get through this "Flying Circus" sketch and laugh and then look at all words through the woody/tinny prism, then we should go get a drink sometime -- unless you're Derek, because that last post really freaked me out.

I watched this sketch with my equally nerdy family when I was a shorty, and I've been considering words as either "woody" or "tinny" since. We'd go round and round about which category certain words belonged in. Sometimes these conversations would get quite violent, leading social services to put my sister and me in foster care for a short time. But our foster family got sick of me pushing my glasses up my nose constantly, so we were reunited with our real parents.

After reading the sketch and fully absorbing the woody-tinny dynamic, tell us where you'd put the following words:

Category
Yogurt
Desk
Speakers
Radical

What difference does it make?

2006-05-16T03:12:00.000-07:00

The serial comma. Sometimes in vogue, sometimes not. The last decade or more has been a particularly uncomfortable time for enthusiasts of the serial comma. I can't explain why our grammatical mores have turned in such an ugly direction, but I do know I've always loved, cherished, and adored the serial comma for its unique ability to separate individual components of the English language.

FYI: The serial comma is the second comma in a sequence of three words or phrases, preceded by a preposition.

For example, "I had sex with James, Craig, and Mitch" perfectly communicates that I had sex with each of them either individually or collectively, whatever your libido desires to imagine.

But if I wrote that "I had sex with James, Craig and Mitch" (note there's no comma after Craig), you might reasonably assume that Craig and Mitch and I participated in a liaison of which James was not a part, and I can assure you that was not the case. The only solution to this ambiguity, as I see it, is the serial comma.

P.S. Sex with James, Craig, and Mitch is fantastic.

Reader Question! Reader Question! Reader Question!

2006-05-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Dear Other Style Council,

Is is correct you're not supposed to use an "a" before "myriad," as in, "a myriad of..."

Yours truly,
Clueless in Cleveland

Dear Clueless,

That's correct. And, further, you don't need the "of" after "myriad."

INCORRECT: A certain Midwestern Welshman entertains a myriad of ladies.

CORRECT: A certain Midwestern Welshman entertains myriad ladies.

All best,

The Other Style Council

Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Quotation Marks

2006-05-12T02:37:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to go wrong with quotation marks. They are often used ironically:

She ran around with a bunch of “intellectuals.”

The quotation marks around “intellectuals” indicate that the writer believes that these are in fact so-called intellectuals, not real intellectuals at all.

Advertisers unfortunately tend to use quotation marks merely for emphasis:

“FRESH” TOMATOES
59 CENTS A POUND

The influence of the more common ironic usage tends to make the reader question whether these tomatoes are really fresh.

In American usage, single quotation marks are used normally only for quoted words and phrases within quotations.

British usage has traditionally been to reverse this relationship, with single quotation marks being standard and double ones being used only for quotations within quotations.

Titles of books and other long works that might be printed as books are usually italicized (except, for some reason, in newspapers); but the titles of short poems, stories, essays, and other works that would be more commonly printed within larger works (anthologies, collections, periodicals, etc.) are enclosed in quotation marks.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/quotation_marks.html

Attnetoin E-mial Fowraders: Go to Hlel

2006-05-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

We've all gotten the e-mail forward that reads in part like this:

Accodring to a raseerch at Cbmaridge Unviersity, it dseon't matetr in waht oredr the letters in a wrod are. The olny impoatrnt tnihg is taht the fsrit and lsat lteter be in the rgiht plcae.

Well, you know how the oil companies are actually keeping secret the super technology that will allow us to run our cars on free oxygen? They're doing it for a reason: To stay in business.

It's in this spirit that, as a copy editor, I ask you, beg you: STOP CIRCULATING THE DAMN WORD-SCRAMBLE E-MAIL. Listen, folks, our job is to fix screwed-up words. If the world suddenly stops caring about screwed-up words, copy editors are toast. Most folks already don't care about grammar and spelling as it is, but if everybody finds out that some super-genius Cambridge researcher says they should care even less about proper written English, then it'll just be a matter of time before Derek, James and I are selling hot dogs in Pershing Square. And James is a vegetarian for Chrissakes!

So, I beseech you, stop with the word-scramble e-mails. I don't endanger your livelihood, so please don't endanger mine.

On the other hand, I do have leads on some hot investment deals involving Nigerian royalty ...

Vim and vigor

2006-05-09T04:47:00.000-07:00

Beyond the fact that "vim" just sounds great as a word, and I include it in my Top 10 list of all-time best-sounding words (along with "multiplicative"), I nominate vim for The Other Style Council's unofficial list of Words We Love To Hate, for its particularly roundabout definition as "vigor." That's right, kids. Vim means vigor.

And I quote American Heritage: Vim. Ebullient vitality and energy. See synonyms at vigor.

Word of the Day, October 1, 1996

2006-05-04T00:13:00.000-07:00

Name That Font

2006-05-03T00:27:00.000-07:00

Can any of you font-inistas out there name the font used in our logo to spell out "The Other Style Council"?

"VA" vs. "Va."

2006-05-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

Emperor Ming writes:

The abbreviation for Virginia is VA, right? So, why does the University of Virginia use U.Va.?

The Other Style Council replies:

Because rich parents can buy an education, but not necessarily a good education.

Actually, "VA" is the postal abbreviation. Use it when you mail a letter, not when writing a news story. "Va." is the Associated Press abbreviation. Our style at L.A. Weekly, however, is to spell out states so there's no confusion. For example, we don't want anybody thinking Virginia Beach is actually located on the grounds of the Veterans Administration.

The Editor's Tick

2006-04-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

Bet all you scribes out there didn't know (or care?) that copy editors have different, specialized areas of editing neurosis. Every copy editor is driven to special distraction by a certain type of error; sometimes editors can become so fixated on that error that they gloss over other things that need fixing in copy.

Personally, I fixate on the "one-word, two-word or hyphenated" question. I bet I open the dictionary 50 times in a shift to look up terms like "lockjaw," "cell phone" and "jump-start."

What about you, oh geeks of mine? What copy error is your (dis)pleasure?

"Women" Confuse Me

2006-04-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

No, not like that. Well, yes like that, but we're not concerned with that on this blog.

I'm more confused by the word "women" when used as a modifier of a plural noun. For example, everyone always wants to call them "women executives." That sounds correct, right? But why put the modifier in the plural? You wouldn't call them "females executives." So I'm always changing this to "woman executives," which everyone in the world probably thinks is wrong, but I think is right.

So, ladies and gentlemen, lemme have it. Am I right? Or have I screwed it up once again when it comes to "women"?

Nervous Laughter

2006-04-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

Heh-heh. Uhhhhhh. Heh-heh. [Sweaty palms, lots of swallowing and clearing of throat.] Uhhhh ...

Credit Where Credit Is Due

2006-04-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

We copy editors often complain about the state of grammar and punctuation used in the world outside publishing. If you ever have a dinner date with a copy editor (I hear the laughter over at the real Style Council already), plan on a minimum of five minutes in which your copy editor dinner date (seriously, girls, stop laughing) will bemoan the low literary state of the establishment's menu. The same goes for billboards, marketing circulars and graffiti.

But sometimes the world gets it right, such as on my coffee mug, found below. That second line is a comma minefield, but the writer and editor took the task head-on, robustly and courageously employing commas after "Pimp" and "Tom."

Coffee mug, I salute you.

TOSC Tip

2006-04-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

Webster's New World College Dictionary is the best dicionary to drum on while driving and listening to Medeski Martin and Wood. (Why I drive around town with my dictionary is my own damn business. Y'hear?)

Look to this space in coming days for more aural fun with dictionaries.

website vs. Web site

2006-04-15T01:34:00.000-07:00

I vote for "website."

L.A. Weekly's style has been "Web site" since circa 1999, when the World Wide Web was just emerging into popular consciousness as a newfangled creation for instant messaging, online shopping, and downloading pics of cute sexy naked Asian girls. (And thankfully it still is.) But nobody in today's modern universe thinks of the World Wide Web as some godly entity that deserves all caps. I mean, it's not the Bible, fer Chrissake.

And the Lord sayeth, "website" shall be one word, lowercased.

James, by Craig

2006-04-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

I Like 21

2006-04-14T00:46:00.000-07:00

Fun With Geography!

2006-04-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a little issue we deal with every now and again:

What regions of the country would say these states are in:

Missouri (South? Midwest? Plains?)
Pennsylvania (Midwest? Northeast?)
Michigan (Midwest? Upper Midwest? Canada?)

Notes from Tuesday

2006-04-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you're doing a find-and-replace for double spaces, but then it misses a few? I mean, c'mon find-and-replace function!
Isn't it odd how the L.A. Weekly spell-check doesn't think "L.A." is spelled correctly? Let's get with the program, spell-checker!
I've always found it much more satisfying to staple together a set of proofs rather than use a paper clip. That distinctive stapler click gives one a feeling of tidiness, decisiveness, finality. With a paper clip, you can always easily pull apart the pages. But you've got to be damn sure you're done with the proof when you use the stapler. There's no turning back after using the stapler!

The Other Style Council

2006-04-12T00:12:00.000-07:00

Craig: "I'll get right on that TPS report."

Derek: "Yes, I get paid to use a stapler."

James: "I can't get no punctuation."

A More Proper Introduction

2006-04-10T21:14:00.001-07:00

Welcome to The Other Style Council, or TOSC for short (please note that the acronym is uppercase and without periods; L.A. Weekly style calls for periods only when the acronym contains two letters). You all know about the first Style Council. Those are the hot, stylish chicks who can get into any party they want. They write for the Weekly's (please note that the apostrophe and "s" are romanized) La Vida section and their own red-hot blog, sending in dispatches from far and wide about fashion, nightlife and the wild times Los Angeles has to offer.

But lurking on the mezzanine level of the Weekly's offices is another Style Council, one whose glasses are much less stylish (but thicker and always on, what with all the reading we do), one whose members consider it "dressed up" to have one's shirt tucked in. When they say "Style," they mean Trina Turk (whoever the hell that is); when we say "Style," we mean Associated Press. See that first post about what we do for boxes containing information on live music shows around L.A.? While we're worrying if the text is in the proper font, the original Style Council is worrying about what to wear to the show.

So why does this blog exist? Because Derek spent a few hours Friday night creating that crackerjack illustration at the top of the page (please note that Derek spent Friday night creating a graphic whose sole purpose is to out himself and two colleagues as geeks). So now we're stuck with it. Look to this space in the future for discussions about the auditory differences in slamming shut American Heritage and Webster's New World College dictionaries, what we eat for dinner Tuesday nights, the existential implications in romanizing URLs in copy, how much I hate en dashes (oh, how I hate you, en dashes!) and the singular genius of Ray Bradbury.

Rent

2006-04-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

Style Change

2006-04-07T23:16:00.000-07:00

The Capper writes:

I should have announced this stylistic change in a more formal fashion: In the Music section, Kate has changed the format of the album and live-show information. Instead of doing it at the end like we used to do (and still do in all the other sections), we now put it in a little gray box somewhere in the middle of the copy. She generally puts it at the top of the file with a note to art department tagged "info box." We don't have a style sheet for it -- it's probably fine to leave it as File Info, as long as it's clearly tagged for the art department and it's up at the top of the file. If I remember to do it, though, I just style it manually as Triplex Serif bold 9.5/11 ... And it gets bullets (option/8 is the keystroke) instead of the vertical lines in between. A recent example can be found in issue 15, page 100. The wording of the live-show info tends to vary a little bit -- I'm still trying to zero in on a permanent formula, which I'll let everyone know about if I do. The one on page 100 there is a good guide to follow.