THE EDITORS' WEEKLY

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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 […]

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Plate of peanut butter cookies, with accompanied by caption with awkward wording quoted from an Air Canada lounge.
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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 […]

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The 8th and final article in a series on editorial internships, by Kate Icely.
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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 […]

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Typographie et ponctuation (Dominique Fortier)
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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 […]

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A published typo might seem like the end of the world to an editor, but being a perfectionist isn’t the answer either.
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Virginia Durksen

Myth: Perfection is the Goal

October 16, 2013 by Virginia Durksen | Leave a Comment

We’ve all had that moment of pride when the book or the brochure arrives, still smelling of ink. And the next moment, when we open the book to discover the glaring error that has somehow managed to survive our eagle-eyed hunt, to live forever as testament to our failure. That moment is sent by the […]

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The love of money is not only the root of all evil; it is also the root of ghastly copy.
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Wilf Popoff

WASTED WORDS: Squandering Words on Money

October 9, 2013 by Wilf Popoff | 3 Comments on WASTED WORDS: Squandering Words on Money

The love of money is not only the root of all evil; it is also the root of ghastly copy. I find it particularly ironic that word economy has only a fleeting acquaintance with commerce. Consider the grating and ubiquitous tautology, expensive price, as in, “The house with a river view comes at a more […]

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Getting an internship can lead to a job—but it might not be the job you were expecting.
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Kate Icely

DISPATCHES 7: Finding Work in Unexpected Places

October 2, 2013 by Kate Icely | Leave a Comment

Getting an internship can lead to a job—but it might not be the job you were expecting. When I first started taking courses at Ryerson University, I didn’t have a clue about the variety of jobs available to me. I knew I could be an editorial assistant at a publishing company, but there were so […]

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Comment composer avec l’espace fine dans les traitements de texte: typographie et correction
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Dominique Fortier

Typographie et correction

September 25, 2013 by Dominique Fortier | Leave a Comment

COMMENT COMPOSER AVEC L’ESPACE FINE DANS LES TRAITEMENTS DE TEXTE  L’espace fine, c’est une espace (le mot est féminin lorsqu’on parle typographie) d’un quart de cadratin (soit 25 % de la police de caractères choisie — par exemple, pour une police de caractères de 12 points, l’espace fine doit être de 3 points) qui est toujours insécable. On […]

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Literally is not The word “literally” is the topic of this week’s blog, "English Can Be So Two-faced," by Karen Virag for The Editors' Weekly, EAC, Sept. 17, 2013. only word in this crazy language of ours that has opposing definitions. But it's the topic of this blog post, "English Can Be So Two-faced," by Karen Virag. The Editors' Weekly, EAC, Sept. 17, 2013.
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Karen Virag

English can be so two-faced

September 17, 2013 by Karen Virag | Leave a Comment

My head literally exploded when I read it! What text, you are wondering, could have caused such a messy and bloody scene? (And if my head literally exploded, shouldn’t I be dead?) Well, the text in question was from an article in Salon magazine (August 22, 2013) decrying the Merriam-Webster (MW) Dictionary definition of the word literally to […]

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When does consistency trump everything else in writing? Or does it ever? Virginia Durksen’s new mini-series explores the myth of consistency in writing. EAC Blog, Sept 5, 2013.
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Virginia Durksen

Myth: Consistency matters consistently

September 10, 2013 by Virginia Durksen | Leave a Comment

And so begins a mini-series, a sub-set of The Inner Editor by Virginia Durksen. Each “mythbuster” explores an assumption commonly made about editors or editing and offers a new perspective on that assumption. Consistency matters when you’re adding a column of numbers. Consistency also matters when you’re training your dog (or your kids, for that […]

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