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Victoria Neufeldt

Undue Care and Attention

Tuesday October 13, 2015

Are you ever guilty of writing with undue care and attention? If you didn’t spot the clunker in the preceding sentence, prop your eyes open and attend! We think we know the language and may even make our living by writing and editing, but the ways to slip up are infinite, providing sport for many […]

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common errors paying attention slip-ups Victoria Neufeldt

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Wasted Words: Don’t Meddle With Shakespeare

Tuesday November 10, 2015

You might think that, as an editor, I would endorse a plan to rewrite Shakespeare in modern English. After all, as the advocates of this undertaking argue, Shakespeare’s language cannot be understood by contemporary audiences, and our profession is all about understanding. However, this has little to do with editing. If Shakespeare’s writing comes across […]

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KJV Bible modern English Shakespeare Wasted Words Wilf Popoff

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Dwain Richardson

English Editing in Quebec: All About Style

Tuesday November 17, 2015

Whenever you do a concordance reading or translation, you certainly notice that the two or more languages you are working with show many stylistic differences. English and French are no strangers to this phenomenon. For instance, have you observed that French texts and translations are often longer than texts written in or translated into English? […]

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Dwain Richardson English Editing in Quebec French to English hyphenation punctuation style

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Victoria Neufeldt

What Do Words Really Mean?

Tuesday February 2, 2016

How discombobulating words can be! You feel certain about what a word means, but then are challenged by another person’s interpretation. Sometimes the discussion, or even argument, is rooted in changing social situations. For example, what does poverty mean? What did it mean 200 years ago? A dispute about words may also be philosophical: there […]

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definitions language change Victoria Neufeldt word meanings word usages

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Wasted Words: Surviving Overkill

Tuesday August 2, 2016

In 1956 SC Johnson (formerly Johnson Wax) developed Raid, an apparently effective insecticide that became a marketing miracle. But most of the credit for the boom belongs to Foote, Cone & Belding (aka FCB), a global advertising agency that created the legendary slogan, Raid Kills Bugs Dead. This whimsically ironic tagline burst into our cultural lexicon […]

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evolution of language language Wasted Words Wilf Popoff

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Keeping Up With the (Editorial) Times

Tuesday November 22, 2016

As editors, we can never stop learning. Whether it’s to resolve specific questions, maintain a credential or generally stay on top of our field, we have to keep up with a dizzying array of books, articles, blogs, newsletters, interviews, Twitter chats, Facebook posts, webinars — and the list goes on. Ignore that information and we […]

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continuing education editorial skills editorial training Frances Peck PD retreat professional development time management

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Tracey Anderson

Editing the Work of Writers Whose First Language Isn’t English

Tuesday March 7, 2017

Canada is a kaleidoscope of cultures and languages from around the world. As the number of residents whose native language isn’t English increases, the need for editors who can edit their writing effectively and sensitively grows, too. Before my editing career began, I taught English as a second language for over 15 years in China, […]

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author-editor relationship editor's role ESL editing Tracey Anderson

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Editing and Empathy

Tuesday June 6, 2017

I’m thinking more about empathy these days. So are other editors — witness last week’s post on the editor-author relationship. So are Canadians in general, judging by Google searches over the past decade. Source: Google Trends. Y-axis shows interest over time, defined as follows: “Numbers […]

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author-editor relationship editor's personality editor's role editorial training editors at work empathy Frances Peck

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Wasted Words: The Phantom Client

Tuesday July 18, 2017

For many editors positive client engagement is central to a project — a good work relationship, frank feedback and response, and, finally, appreciation. Such pleasures, alas, are seldom part of my grind. Often I don’t get close enough to an actual client to cultivate such a connection. Communications agencies or consulting engineers who outsource projects […]

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client-editor relationship clients newsroom editing outsourced projects Wasted Words Wilf Popoff