THE EDITORS' WEEKLY

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Dominique Fortier

Biais, biaiser/biaisé, par le biais de

September 29, 2015 by Dominique Fortier | 2 Comments on Biais, biaiser/biaisé, par le biais de

  Biais Le nom biais est, comme bien d’autres, susceptible de nous faire trébucher lorsque l’on a à l’utiliser dans une phrase. D’un côté, on peut l’employer sans crainte lorsqu’il a, par exemple, le sens de « ligne oblique, oblique » (ex. : Elle a taillé la flèche en biais.). De même est-il correct dans le sens de […]

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Sue Archer

Review: Correct English: Reality or Myth? by Geoffrey Marnell

September 22, 2015 by Sue Archer | 4 Comments on Review: Correct English: Reality or Myth? by Geoffrey Marnell

I’m sure all of us, as editors, have encountered heated discussions about the notion of “correct” English. It’s an inescapable occupational hazard. With the prescriptivists in one corner and the descriptivists in the other, the debate continually rages on. I was curious to know if Geoffrey Marnell would bring anything new to the discussion with […]

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Dwain Richardson

English Editing in Quebec: Mind Your Noun Strings, Please!

September 15, 2015 by Dwain Richardson | Leave a Comment

If you regularly work with French copy, you know that French emphasizes nouns more than English does. This results in our Gallic official language constantly using noun strings — that is, strings containing several nouns in a row. They will often take the form [noun] + of + (the) + [noun]: la gestion de la […]

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Wilf Popoff

Wasted Words: Considering the Case for Verbosity

September 8, 2015 by Wilf Popoff | 2 Comments on Wasted Words: Considering the Case for Verbosity

Is it necessary to waste a word or two to command attention? Are people apt to disregard phrases not couched in officialese? I shudder at the very notion, but former co-worker Cam Fuller, who fulminates against misusage as The Word Nerd, got me thinking. A recent lecture reveals he is currently contemplating a vacation. After […]

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Melva McLean

The Invisible Vocation in Books

September 1, 2015 by Melva McLean | 2 Comments on The Invisible Vocation in Books

Well, our blog post about Colin Firth playing the great Maxwell Perkins in the upcoming film Genius had a one-day reach of 3,000 viewers. We editors are the invisible and unsung celebrities of the publishing world, so it feels great to get some recognition in print or on film. Hell, we’ll even take word of […]

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Sue Archer

Interview With Grace Yaginuma, Winner of the Tom Fairley Award

August 25, 2015 by Sue Archer | 2 Comments on Interview With Grace Yaginuma, Winner of the Tom Fairley Award

This post is part of our “Editors in the Spotlight” series, spotlighting editors who have won awards or participated in award-winning projects. In this post, Sue Archer interviews Grace Yaginuma, who won the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence for editing the book A Discerning Eye by Carol E. Mayer. ~~~ Sue Archer: To start, […]

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James Harbeck

Who Let That Word Into the Dictionary? | Linguistics, Frankly

August 18, 2015 by James Harbeck | 1 Comment on Who Let That Word Into the Dictionary? | Linguistics, Frankly

Every so often, Oxford or Merriam-Webster will release a list of words recently added to one of their dictionaries, and many people become grouchy at what they see as awful — or even fake — intrusions that have somehow been bootlegged into the hallowed halls of the official lexicon. You may even agree that they […]

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Sara Peacock

Editing Goes Global: A British Perspective

August 11, 2015 by Sara Peacock | 1 Comment on Editing Goes Global: A British Perspective

I still vividly remember my first experience of an editorial conference. I came away with a very strong sense of belonging and of being part of a community. I probably learned some useful facts or techniques, but more importantly I was able to have discussions with colleagues and make strong connections with a number of […]

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Melva McLean

It’s Our Turn at the Box Office

August 4, 2015 by Melva McLean | 2 Comments on It’s Our Turn at the Box Office

It’s called Genius, and it stars Colin Firth, Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. Due for release just before Christmas (and award season), the film, touted as “the bio-pic of the year,” is about a book editor.  Yup. You read that correctly. An editor. Colin Firth plays Charles Scribner’s Sons fiction editor Maxwell Perkins in a […]

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Dominique Fortier

Ah non! pas encore des « coupures »!

July 28, 2015 by Dominique Fortier | Leave a Comment

Sous l’influence de l’anglais cut, on emploie très souvent le mot « coupure » dans les domaines administratif et financier. On parlera ainsi de coupures budgétaires, de coupures de budget ou de coupures de postes. Or les sens français de coupure, contrairement à celui de coupe, ne correspondent pas à la notion évoquée dans ce genre de […]

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