LMD Copy

September 13, 2011
The Wall Street Journal posted this piece yesterday by Geoffrey A. Fowler and Yukari Iwatani Kaneon on articles being dropped by marketers to promote a product. For example, the piece notes that Jeff Bezos refers to "Kindle" rather than "the Kindle" and Apple has always referred to its products without any article use. In the same vein, Apple's catch-phrase "Think Different" lacks that wonderful "ly" that makes it an appropriate adverb. Still, Mignon Fogarty, of  Grammar Girl, has a great quote at the end of the piece: "It's hard to make the case that bad grammar is wrong when someone like Mr. [Steve] Jobs announces that the new iPod is the "funnest" ever. How can you tell your kids, you won't get anywhere in life if you use that language?" A good point perhaps, but it doesn't make me wince any less. An interesting read for grammarians and marketers alike.

July 7, 2011

There was a recent report that the Oxford University PR department was eliminating the Oxford comma from its style-guide. For about a day, the Twitter-sphere exploded about the death of the Oxford comma. (The latter is also referred to as the "serial comma," used like so: "The death of that comma would have been sad, tragic, and annoying.")

I am a big fan of the "serial" comma. Its use is much debated by other editors and proofreaders. It is a question of style and in the case of proofreading, we do as the style guides we're abiding tell us, whether it's a particular organization's own rules, or whether said organization follows another style guide, like the AP or Chicago Manual. Still, as a copy editor, I am rather fond of it, I find it both grammatically useful and aesthetically pleasing. I can't feel a sentence with a list or description is quite complete without it.

Anyway, for a fun read about the exaggerated accounts of its death, read this piece on NPR's Monkey See blog.

May 15, 2011
The Dialogue Project held its 9th Annual Teach-In at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York City. The event promotes the Dialogue's ongoing efforts to promote understanding between those of different ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds – not always easy conversations. I worked on its press materials and worked the event itself. Check out the Dialogue's Flickr page for pictures of the afternoon's gathering and my write-up of it on my blog, Caffeinated Missives.