The Copy Editor

futurejournalismproject:

Omnishambles
The Oxford English Dictionary’s 2012 word of the year is “omnishambles”.

Although omnishambles is still most commonly used in political contexts, usage has evolved rapidly in other contexts to describe any debacle or poorly managed situation. Omnishambles, derived from omni- (‘all’) and shambles (‘a state of total disorder’), has given rise to its own derivative, omnishambolic, indicating that potentially this is a word with staying power.

The OED’s US counterpart, the Oxford American Dictionary, has chosen “GIF” as its word of the year.
Takeaway: The English are pessimistic while Americans are optimistically distracted by kittehs.

Omnishambles

The Oxford English Dictionary’s 2012 word of the year is “omnishambles”.

Although omnishambles is still most commonly used in political contexts, usage has evolved rapidly in other contexts to describe any debacle or poorly managed situation. Omnishambles, derived from omni- (‘all’) and shambles (‘a state of total disorder’), has given rise to its own derivative, omnishambolic, indicating that potentially this is a word with staying power.

The OED’s US counterpart, the Oxford American Dictionary, has chosen “GIF” as its word of the year.

Takeaway: The English are pessimistic while Americans are optimistically distracted by kittehs.

theatlantic:

Why ‘Diphthong’ is the Best Word Ever

Ted McCagg is a creative director in advertising in Portland, Oregon. In his spare time, for the past five years or so, McCagg has been keeping a blog,”Questionable Skills” — the content of which consists almost entirely of drawings, some of them the bracket-style rankings that are a familiar feature of March Madness.

A few months ago, McCagg began using his blog and his bracket system to answer a question: What is the best word ever? Not the funniest word or the most erudite word or the most whimsical word … but The Best Word, full stop. What if, you know, the scallawag could eke out a thingamajig that would help him select the least milquetoast morsel from our linguistic smorgasbord?

Yesterday, McCagg has answered his question.

Read more. [Image: Ted McCagg]

Mysteries of Vernacular: Pants

language

Most style guides and dictionaries have come to accept the use of the noun data with either singular or plural verbs, and we hereby join the majority.

WSJ style guide doyen Paul Martin answers if data are plural, or if it’s singular.

More good reads on the subject at The Guardian and The Economist.

Al Jazeera English’s Jamela Alindogan reports on what’s being done to keep the Philippines’ more than 170 languages alive.

Here’s also an explainer I made on the difference between a language and dialect.

Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Bikol, Waray-Waray, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Maranao, Kinaray-a, Tausug, Maguindanaoan are languages.

Batangan Tagalog (Tagalog variant spoken in Batangas province) is a dialect of the Tagalog language.

‘Write as short as you can/ In order/ Of what matters,’ John Berryman counseled in a pre-tweet of 44 characters.

n+1, Please RT

Wanna live forever? Become a noun

Joseph Guillotin, Henry Shrapnel, and Jules Leotard became immortal — by entering the English language. But NPR’s Robert Krulwich and Adam Cole discover that when your entire life is reduced to a single definition, the results are sometimes upsetting. [via NPR]

futurejournalismproject:

Proper punctuation saves lives. We mean that literally, not figuratively this time.

thebroadcaster:

10 Most Misunderstood Words in English

The problem with the dash—as you may have noticed!—is that it discourages truly efficient writing. It also—and this might be its worst sin—disrupts the flow of a sentence. Don’t you find it annoying—and you can tell me if you do, I won’t be hurt—when a writer inserts a thought into the midst of another one that’s not yet complete?

— Noreen Malone, making a case on Slate against the overuse of the em dash, that rebel of the punctuation pantheon that allows a writer to insert a stray piece of information or jump cut from one thought to another.

Seconded.

(via markcoatney)

(via futurejournalismproject)

It is wrong to think that the sentence is a mere slave, whose function is to bear content, which, while being the really important thing, is also something that could equally have been borne by another. Change the shape and ring, and you change everything.

Simon Blackburn reviews Stanley Fish’s “How To Write A Sentence” | The New Republic

People with Asperger’s possess an extreme sensitivity to the visual and affective power of metaphorical language, a sensitivity that compels them to take things literally, because they do not know how else to take them.

Martin Shovel, Metaphor can make your eyes water

[TED Talks] Erin McKean redefines the dictionary

Is the beloved paper dictionary doomed to extinction? In this infectiously exuberant talk, leading lexicographer Erin McKean, CEO and co-founder of Wordnik, looks at the many ways today’s print dictionary is poised for transformation.

What American English sounds like to non-English speakers

[TED Talks] Alan Siegel: Let’s simplify legal jargon

Tax forms, credit agreements, healthcare legislation: They’re crammed with gobbledygook, says Alan Siegel, and incomprehensibly long. He calls for a simple, sensible redesign — and plain English — to make legal paperwork intelligible to the rest of us.