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In My Opinion

Tuesday March 17, 2015

There are a heck of a lot of opinions out there. Some days they come at you as thick as blackflies over Lac Ouareau on a July afternoon. Small, insistent opinions: some winging singly and some blackening the sky in noisy hordes. Some are meaningful and some mean well and some are just mean, but […]

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Victoria Neufeldt

We’re All Looking for Style

Tuesday July 14, 2015

What is style in writing? Writers — and their editors, of course — must think about this, but not everyone agrees on what is appropriate. A writer of non-fiction, for example, probably aims for an unobtrusive style in which the language — the words and phrases, the syntax and grammar — takes second place to the content. […]

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informal language register style tone usage voice

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James Harbeck

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

Tuesday August 18, 2015

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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language change Linguistics Frankly new words slang

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Sue Archer

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

Tuesday September 22, 2015

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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descriptivism Geoffrey Marnell language myths prescriptivism review Sue Archer

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Wilf Popoff

Wasted Words: Quarrelling With Pronouns

Tuesday April 12, 2016

Around the time the Great Flood started to recede I was taught to write, “Everyone must remove his shoes.” Funny how boys aren’t bothered by such preferential usage of male gender pronouns. Back then feminism was a feature of the French Revolution and the current usage of politically correct had yet to surface. Mostly the […]

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gender equality gender-neutral pronouns language change pronouns Wasted Words Wilf Popoff

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Rosemary Shipton

Those Unpublishable Manuscripts

Tuesday October 11, 2016

We’ve all had them – those manuscripts that arrive on our desks that should not be published. They have little merit in either content or expression, and our initial impulse is to return them immediately. How do we deal with them? If the project comes from a trade publisher, the contract with the author was probably […]

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author-editor relationship editor's role editors at work publishing Rosemary Shipton self-publishing

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Paul Cipywnyk

Where the Ink Meets the Road — Insights From Working In a Bookstore

Tuesday November 15, 2016

I’ve recently picked up a few shifts a week at a bookstore, receiving and stocking while I think about where I want to go with my career. As a longtime editor, it’s giving me a different view of the book world. The logistics alone are impressive. Early every morning we arrive to new skids of […]

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books bookstore customer relations distribution marketing Paul Cipywnyk product placement

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Anna Williams

Happy Holidays

Thursday December 22, 2016

Dear Readers, As the new year approaches, I’m embarking on my fourth year as the managing editor of the Editors’ Weekly. As always, my goal is to provide interesting, informative blog posts for your enjoyment, and this is only possible thanks to the people who graciously contribute their articles and the loyal subscribers who read […]

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Anna Williams letter from the editor

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Wilf Popoff

Wasted Words: Respectable Stoners

Tuesday February 21, 2017

Legalizing marijuana makes it acceptable, but will it make it respectable? Jumping that second hurdle will be difficult, requiring us to forsake the vast vocabulary it has spawned. I don’t see that happening right away. While I cringe at seeing chief justices, bishops and other bigwigs described as stoners or potheads, if they come out […]

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connotation of words nomenclature slang usage Wasted Words Wilf Popoff

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Marianne Grier

German Lessons With Mrs. Cheese

Tuesday April 4, 2017

At the feisty age of 16, I was given an opportunity to study in Switzerland to improve my French language skills. After committing, I found out that the only exchange spot was in Bern, the country’s German-speaking capital. My teenage determination told me I could learn the language quickly enough to complete my school year […]

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editing editor's role English language Marianne Grier

Search results

In My Opinion

We’re All Looking for Style

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

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

Wasted Words: Quarrelling With Pronouns

Those Unpublishable Manuscripts

Where the Ink Meets the Road — Insights From Working In a Bookstore

Happy Holidays

Wasted Words: Respectable Stoners

German Lessons With Mrs. Cheese

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