THE EDITORS' WEEKLY

Filed under:

James Harbeck

Topics, We Front Them | Linguistics, Frankly

January 14, 2014 by James Harbeck | 4 Comments on Topics, We Front Them | Linguistics, Frankly

English is normally a subject-verb-object kind of language, but there are some interesting exceptions, especially in casual contexts. Consider examples such as the following: Poodles, we walk them. Labradors, they walk us. Chickens we have; roads, not so much. Not one of the clauses above follows standard English sentence order, and yet we understand them. […]

Read more »

Tagged

Filed under:

Rosemary Shipton

What Should an Editor Be?

January 7, 2014 by Rosemary Shipton | 26 Comments on What Should an Editor Be?

We were nearing the end of a Stylistic Editing seminar — a group of about 30 people of varying ages and experience working in-house or freelance for book publishers, magazines, businesses or governments. A woman in the third row raised her hand: “In my work I’m the only editor,” she said, “so I don’t really […]

Read more »

Tagged

Filed under:

Anna Williams General EAC

Letter From the Editor

December 20, 2013 by Anna Williams | Leave a Comment

Dear Readers, The Editors’ Weekly will be on hiatus for the holidays. Regular posts will resume on Jan. 7. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your readership and encourage you to spread the word about the Editors’ Weekly and the EAC. If you’re interested in contributing to the blog or […]

Read more »

Tagged

Filed under:

Victoria Neufeldt

Shy Words

December 17, 2013 by Victoria Neufeldt | Leave a Comment

When I took on the commitment, a year ago, of contributing blog postings about language, I began bravely by tossing out a little ditty that came into my mind, inspired by Dr. Seuss: “New words, old words, shy words, bold words.” Well, I’ve talked about old words and new words, but shy words? What was […]

Read more »

Tagged

Filed under:

Wilf Popoff

Wasted Words: The Tragedies and Farces of History

December 10, 2013 by Wilf Popoff | 3 Comments on Wasted Words: The Tragedies and Farces of History

  “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce, third as more repetition.” I know Marx would have added that last part had he been on the ball. In the event, he was so fixated on dialectical something or other that he didn’t get around to it. And then there was the business about workers […]

Read more »

Tagged

Filed under:

Dominique Fortier

L’Estrie – Histoire, toponymie et terminologie

December 4, 2013 by Dominique Fortier | Leave a Comment

Dans un article précédent, j’ai abordé les toponymes Estrie et Cantons-de-l’Est sous leur angle actuel, en tant que région administrative ou touristique. Mais voyons ce qu’il en est de l’occupation du territoire de cette région et des aménagements linguistiques qui en ont découlé au fil du temps. 1792-1857 : À la fin du XVIIIe siècle, le gouvernement […]

Read more »

Tagged

Filed under:

Virginia Durksen

Myth: The Rules are the Rules (Not)

November 26, 2013 by Virginia Durksen | 2 Comments on Myth: The Rules are the Rules (Not)

Some rules are rules. Not meant to be broken. Others are more like etiquette or Sunday best. When was the last time you wore Sunday best? That’s because society has changed in the half-century (or however long) you’ve been alive. When was the last time you split an infinitive, misspoke “you and I” for “you […]

Read more »

Tagged

Filed under:

Karen Virag

GETTABLE GRAMMAR: Verbal Boobery (VB)

November 19, 2013 by Karen Virag | 5 Comments on GETTABLE GRAMMAR: Verbal Boobery (VB)

Verbal whatery? Not long ago in the Air Canada Lounge at Toronto Pearson Airport I noticed a small sign beside a tray of freshly baked cookies. It said:             Now, I have to say, I don’t know why so many people complain about Air Canada. Knowing how many passengers are […]

Read more »

Tagged

Filed under:

Kate Icely

DISPATCHES 8: Looking Forward, Looking Back

November 13, 2013 by Kate Icely | 3 Comments on DISPATCHES 8: Looking Forward, Looking Back

I thought up this series while sitting in my cubicle at Random House of Canada just as I was starting my second internship. By this point I considered myself a pretty seasoned hand. I had seen a lot: the relentless hard work, the small embarrassments, the seemingly endless hours. But I had also enjoyed the […]

Read more »

Tagged

Filed under:

Dominique Fortier

Typographie et ponctuation

October 22, 2013 by Dominique Fortier | Leave a Comment

L’ESPACE FINE INSÉCABLE DANS LES DOCUMENTS HTML Nous l’avons vu dans l’article précédent, dans les documents imprimés, et avec l’aide de logiciels de mise en pages professionnels, il est possible d’insérer une espace fine insécable devant le point-virgule, le point d’interrogation et le point d’exclamation. Dans les documents HTML, l’exemple le plus connu d’espace insécable […]

Read more »

Tagged