Or maybe I’ll see you again in January
If you opened your new Billings Gazette this morning, you saw part of the reason for my prolonged absence. I was on the newsroom team that redesigned the newspaper for our new, slimmer page size. The
View ArticleRevisiting 1862: emoticon or typo?
Jennifer 8. Lee* of the New York Times examines a scrap of type from an 1862 edition of the newspaper that seems to sport a winking emoticon -- rendered as ;).
View ArticleFlub a dub dub
Steven Pinker, author of "The Language Instinct," has a theory about Tuesday's botched oath of office: Chief Justice John Roberts' penchant for hypercorrection backfired.
View ArticleThere oughtta be a word
In yet another sign that the language ultimately cannot be restrained, Addictionary gives folks an outlet to find and submit words that are as yet unrecognized by the authority dictionaries and yet ha
View ArticleThe man speaks the truth
Using a popular Facebook meme -- 25 random things about one's self -- as a springboard, John McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun offers 25 random facts about editing. To anyone who has toiled at this racke
View ArticleThis doesnt seem like its a good idea
If you saw Page 7A of your dead-tree edition of The Gazette this morning, you no doubt noticed that the esteemed leaders of Birmingham, England, have decided to do away with apostrophes on signs.
View ArticleGoodbye, Mr. Kilpatrick
Alan McDermott, who has been editing James J. Kilpatrick's "The Writer's Art" column since 1979, passes on the sad news that, at age 88, Kilpatrick is retiring the feature.
View ArticleThe reason of rhyme
I should have posted this yesterday, as it was the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. Apologies for the tardiness.
View ArticleIn awe, I am
I haven't checked in with old chum Doug Fisher in a while. I'm glad I did tonight.
View ArticleA’Twitter
We professional journalists keep getting told that our future is somehow, some way, tied to Twitter. That may be true. I really can't tell.*
View ArticleGrappling with style
With around 700 wrestlers in town for the state tournament, I figure it's a good time to throw Watch Yer Language over to Gazette sports editor Mike Zimmer. Mike dispatched a note to staffers this we
View ArticleDiagramming the president
Remember our post back in the fall that pointed out Slate's diagramming of a wayward Sarah Palin sentence? (Allow us this bit of snark: Is there any other kind?) Well, fair is fair, and now The Millio
View ArticleBrightness amid the boondoggle
The bad economic news keeps crashing in, but with one story, at least, there's a silver lining: The scandal involving financier Allen Stanford allows us to drop a little Texan on you.
View ArticleHow to know a hobgoblin
New York Times deputy news editor Philip B. Corbett, in the After Deadline blog, has a delicious take on style points for which his newspaper is incorrectly scolded.
View ArticleOne for the grammar Nazis
This video has been making the rounds on some of the grammar-related blogs.
View ArticleWe’re from the government, and we’re here to help
From the Kitsap Sun in Bremerton, Wash., comes this story about a freshman legislator's bid to have the term "mental retardation" struck from the state statutes.
View ArticleNational Day After National Grammar Day
Is it safe for me to peek out my head? Truly? Are you sure?
View ArticleSomething for the bookshelf
Carol Fisher Saller, a senior manuscript editor at the University of Chicago Press, has written a book called "The Subversive Copy Editor." It drops March 16.
View ArticleYou should have been in pictures
This isn't, technically, a language or usage issue, but it does touch on cliche. On a Wednesday night, that qualifies.
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