I spent yesterday editing essays for the Journal of Employee Communication Management, of which I've been editor since 1996.
Maybe I've been at it a little too long. Though I still love the magazine, I spend my editing time cursing my writers—writers who write for us for free, mind you—for the pettiest things.
Like, why in the name of Alden Wood do they still insist, 20 years after the last typewriter was melted down and made into a ship to carry manufacturing jobs to China, do so many writers insist on placing two spaces after a period?
And what insane graphic designer do they work for who wants dashes - short dashes like this - that have spaces on either side? (Rather than—as we all know is right and proper—long dashes, with no spaces?) Three words for you: Shift/Option/Dash!
And is Microsoft Word giving people royalties every time they use one of these Auto Format Features for Morons? I nearly died, yesterday, in a hail of automatic bullet points. We're writers! We don't need this crap! Why are we so slavishly using it? (Microsoft ought to come up with a Word program for writers only. It wouldn't ask you if you need help when "it looks like you're writing a letter." It would ask you if you need help when "it looks like you're trying to add two double-digit numbers.")
I almost wish the content of these Journal articles wasn't so good. Then maybe I wouldn't sweat the small stuff so much. (Space, space.)
Comments (24)
A few years ago when you started your other blog, you brought up this period thing and I was guilty, but I've changed. Really, I've changed.
And now you throw my world into chaos once again...there aren't supposed to be dashes around dashes?
I'm going to get my AP style manual and prove you wrong.
Posted by Eileen | April 27, 2007 11:39 AM
Posted on April 27, 2007 11:39
Ha! "WITH SPACES: Put a space on both sides of a dash in all uses except the start of a paragraph and sports agate summaries."
Pg. 332 in my book.
What the heck's a sports agate summary?
Posted by Eileen | April 27, 2007 11:41 AM
Posted on April 27, 2007 11:41
Agate type is the small font-size that allows more information to be squeezed into the space. (I think it's 5.5 points, but that may be wrong.) On a sports page, for example, all of the box scores and high school sports results can be formatted with agate type.
Posted by Tom Keefe | April 27, 2007 12:24 PM
Posted on April 27, 2007 12:24
Shift/Option/Dash??? Where the hell is the Option key?
Posted by Robert J Holland, ABC | April 27, 2007 1:23 PM
Posted on April 27, 2007 13:23
Hi Eileen, David, all...from Ragan's home office editorial desk, an answer:
When using an EN dash, there are spaces on either side. Page 327 in my stylebook.
However, when using an EM dash, which is our unwaivering style choice for Ragan pubs, there are no spaces between the words and the dash.
Posted by morgan | April 27, 2007 1:25 PM
Posted on April 27, 2007 13:25
Free MS Word tips for editors:
1. Learn how to make and use macros. I have one I call "killtabs" that eliminates all extra spaces and tabs globally throughout the document in a fraction of a second with just a click of a mouse on my customized toolbar. It serves two purposes: it kills all the extra spaces and it keeps me from getting mad at all those writers who still do that.
2. Learn how to use options to customize the way Word behaves. You don't need automatic bulleting or numbering, automatic superscript (all Word defaults), etc. Fix it once in options and never worry about it again.
Eileen is correct about the spaces around dashes (real em dashes please) in AP style, but she probably doesn't realize that you are using some other style for that magazine.
Will
Posted by Will Daniel | April 27, 2007 1:26 PM
Posted on April 27, 2007 13:26
Robert,
I think the option key is something Macintosh users have instead of a control key. You know -- those folks who have only one mouse button because they can't figure out how to use two.
Will
Posted by Will Daniel | April 27, 2007 1:28 PM
Posted on April 27, 2007 13:28
Eileen--
Don't retreat into your AP Style book, which is the last refuge of scoundrels. (The AP never had any style and it never will.)
Look in any book or magazine you've got laying around. Only the most amateurish rags have spaces on either side of an em dash. The only reason this works--these two hyphens in a row--is because the design programs automatically convert them into these—em dashes—leaving no spaces on either side.
Here's how it's supposed to look—no exceptions.
Posted by David Murray | April 27, 2007 3:11 PM
Posted on April 27, 2007 15:11
'Scuse me, but did you just call me an amateurish rag?
Okay, I re-read it and you didn't.
I'm on this new rule like a bee on honey. I promise I'll change just as soon as I find my option key.
Posted by Eileen | April 27, 2007 3:37 PM
Posted on April 27, 2007 15:37
Did you just call me honey?
Posted by David Murray | April 27, 2007 3:58 PM
Posted on April 27, 2007 15:58
Do you see a comma before the word "honey?" No, I didn't think so. But I am going to start calling you "Mr. Grammar Curmudgeon" from now on for obvious reasons.
Posted by Eileen | April 27, 2007 6:00 PM
Posted on April 27, 2007 18:00
Well, SOMEBODY needed to take Alden Wood's place. I nominate David.
Posted by Robert J Holland, ABC | April 28, 2007 10:16 AM
Posted on April 28, 2007 10:16
Seconded.
Posted by Eileen | April 28, 2007 10:37 PM
Posted on April 28, 2007 22:37
we are a group of student at University of Technology Sydney studying a Master Degree in Communication Management.
we are doing a research on "how is blogging used effective by PR professionals for their oranization when communicating with publics."
any suggestions or advice will be much appreciated.
Enid Tu
Posted by Enid Tu | April 29, 2007 5:55 AM
Posted on April 29, 2007 05:55
O god! Now I have something else to stress about! As a brand new contributor to the Journal, I'm already all edgy about submitting writing of a quality that is worthy of such a great pub.
I'm a pretty good speller, and decent with grammer, but this "your style, my style, AP style" business (anyone hearing "Lions & Tigers and Bears O My!?) is just one more thing for a neurotic writer (and really aren't we all a little neurotic about our writing?) to worry over.
Sheesh!
Posted by Kristen | April 30, 2007 7:47 AM
Posted on April 30, 2007 07:47
Kristen,
The moment my writers aren't worried and edgy about what they submit is the moment the publication loses any of the greatness you so generously ascribe.
Worry on, Ridley.
Posted by David Murray | April 30, 2007 8:30 AM
Posted on April 30, 2007 08:30
And as far as my being the next Alden Wood--I'm about as qualified to be the next Tiger Woods. There is no next Woods, and there is no next Wood.
Pax vobiscum.
Posted by David Murray | April 30, 2007 8:33 AM
Posted on April 30, 2007 08:33
Kristen - Don't you see? That's the beauty of this post...we now know that our little AP/style differences are the very thing that drive David (i.e. THE EDITOR) crazy, but it's his job.
So write as you always do and let him stress. Beautiful, isn't it?
Yours in neuroses,
Eileen
Posted by Eileen | April 30, 2007 11:05 AM
Posted on April 30, 2007 11:05
Eileen - You are wise! I like your advice.
Kristen
Posted by Kristen | April 30, 2007 3:54 PM
Posted on April 30, 2007 15:54
Re the April 29 comment by Enid Tu, what is a Master in Communication Management, and how can a student in pursuit of this advanced degree not know how to do research or understand what a blog is and how to comment on a blog?
To stay pertinent to this post, can we talk about the serial comma? What does the world have against it? It does an important job and things get confusing when it doesn't show up for work.
Posted by Jane Greer | May 1, 2007 11:56 AM
Posted on May 1, 2007 11:56
Jane, the serial comma battle is one I've fought so many times. I don't take it up for the same reason Hillary Clinton seems to steer clear of talking about making wholesale healthcare reform.
I've fought, and I've lost--to AP Style slaves, who don't care that the serial comma was originally left out of newspapers to save typesetters the time back in the days of cold type.
Anyone else want to take this up on behalf of this beaten word warrior?
Posted by David Murray | May 1, 2007 12:33 PM
Posted on May 1, 2007 12:33
The serial comma is one of those things I tell my English composition students (I teach it just part time, thank gawd) to do any way they want. My problem with them (the students, not the commas) is that they've had high school English teachers take points off for not using it or take points off for using it. There is no consistency.
I could go on and on about areas where there is no consistency in professional usage and/or teaching. As one who uses AP style on the full-time job and MLA style in academia, I see huge variations, and it frustrates the shit out of me. Often I have to tell the students, "Well, this is the way I have to do it on my job, but this is how you are expected to do it in MLA style, and many of you will lock horns with other professors who will go in some other direction."
Will
Posted by Will Daniel | May 2, 2007 1:22 PM
Posted on May 2, 2007 13:22
Neither AP nor MLA nor many English teachers have clarity as their underlying goal. AP rules pretend that cold metal type is the only thing we have to read; MLA rules are intended to make writing sound learned and inacessible to the unwashed masses; and many (not all) of the English teachers I've known are avid readers but not so much into teaching kids to care about getting their hands dirty writing for clarity. Even though text-messaging has spawned an entirely new realm of esoterica, I have a silly hope that the new social media, where the reader is king, will eventually help make clear writing more important to more writers. God help me, I do.
Posted by Jane Greer | May 2, 2007 4:48 PM
Posted on May 2, 2007 16:48
Sweet Jesus, Jane, I hope your dream comes true.
I'm thinking that we'll be lucky to still have capital letters in 2013.
Posted by David Murray | May 2, 2007 7:23 PM
Posted on May 2, 2007 19:23