October 29, 2009
Veteran copy editor John McIntyre is my new crush, and his blog You Don’t Say is now among my favorites. However, he broke my heart yesterday with the following:
… anxious/eager, compare to/compare with, entitled/titled, hanged/hung, healthy/healthful, loan/lend, verbal/oral. People cannot be substituted for persons; no one can sustain an injury; transpire is not synonymous with occur. If you have been bothering yourself over these matters, I urge you to consult Ms. Freeman’s commentary on these entries for a succinct account of how you have been wasting valuable time.
[...]
If you as an editor or manager have the authority to set yourself up as a tinpot despot on usage (as I was for many years), put this book before you and learn humility.
Sob! I hope I was never a despot, but you will pry hanged/hung out of my cold dead fingers.
EDITED TO ADD: If editing humor tickles you, follow FakeAPStylebook on Twitter. E.g.: “Use ‘bat-shit’ as modifier, ‘bat shit’ for guano, and ‘Batshit’ as generic term for the contents of Batman’s utility belt.”
October 29th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Yikes! You can be a despot all you want as long as you’re nice about it, SP.
Here’s one that sends me into a five minute rant every time I see it in the paper: The victim was fatally wounded.
I have threatened to scrawl on the page in red marker: “The sumbitch was dead!” And then I remember I’m supposed to behave like a lady.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
There, there. You’re perfectly welcome to observe that distinction in this life and the next. It’s just that it’s pointless to demand that other people observe it.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
::: curtsies :::
I wanted desperately to defend myself and the beloved, hard-won wisdom in the (yellowing, foxed) style guide I wrote several years ago. I wanted to say that it was always about the system, about consistency and clarity and like virtues. But any tin-pot despot would say the same, and, as Mr. McIntyre points out, humility is a greater virtue than any of these.