March 15, 2010
Our Corrupted Blog-Language
Anal grammarians are taking bloggers to task. Take this email sent to Ezra Klein at the Washington Post as an example:
We at Masked Grammarian (a loosely-knit small group of grammar snobs) send corrections to sites on the web when we notice something that bugs us. Almost always, we do this only when it seems worthwhile — a site that we like with a significant error.
In this case, you used the word “impacted” to mean “affected”. Until just a few years ago, “impacted” was used only in a medical sense: unless otherwise stated, it was assumed to refer to fecal impaction. Of course, it could also refer to wisdom teeth, etc.
Due to the rise of MBA-speak, many nouns have become verbified, and we’ve all slipped into using words, such as “impacted”, which were formerly the domain of people who talk of synergy, best practices, 10,000-foot views, and the like.
We just wanted to point out your incorrect (albeit unfortunately well-accepted) use of “impacted” in your 1:08 PM post today. We also hope that we will not be impacted, in the traditional sense, by your light posting schedule, though it will negatively affect our day.
Consider it noted.
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verbified.
I very much enjoyed the comments.
There’s a law (I forget what it’s called) that notes the high probability of errors appearing in communications aimed at correcting grammar. Depending on the usage guide one appeals to, the block quotation above has errors likely to be marked by many editors: periods and commas appearing outside of quotation marks, and spaces on both sides of a dash. Also–ending a sentence with etc. (many style guides recommend the use of “and so on” instead of the abbreviation).
No one picked up on my “anal” joke. This is disappointing.
And Deron, I totally saw that Unicorn post.
I couldn’t get it to work in the wordpress code. in preview it worked. on the site, it just took me to cornify.
also, I don’t get your anal joke.
also — I prefer spaces before and after dashes, etc.
Yeah, fuck MLA. I guess maybe they call for it because many word processing programs will retroactively form the two hyphen marks into one line–but only if there aren’t spaces deliberately placed at the ends. But the whole subject makes me tired. Although I do always insist that a single hyphen not be used as a dash, since we often might read past one so set and have to back up to see what’s what.
Josh, is “joke” the right word?
“Anal” and “impacted.” Anyone?
It made sense in my head. (Charlie Brown trombone)
It was cute.
Daryl, I think the space dash thing might be a grammar vs. typography thing. many of the books on typography I have encourage it when setting text. I wasn’t aware that MLA suggested the opposite.
there’s a cage-match I’d like to watch.
Yep. I am always inclined to go with what looks best on the page. MLA guidelines evolve to keep up with printing technology, but the process is way behind in my view. I mean, forever they have insisted on underlining book titles instead of using italics, and only in the latest edition of the guide have they made it an optional matter. They also don’t allow the use of all caps and bold type for emphasis, but with writing loosening up all around it’s a matter of time before that changes too, I suppose. But I think there needs to be some way of encouraging writers to make the selection of words do the work that they are trying to foist off on punctuation and typography. Making a piece of prose look like a concrete poem often shows a lack of faith in words and an amateurish acquaintance with print design programs.
As long as they don’t fuck with apostrophes, I don’t give a shit.
Daryl: word.
Cindy: word.
I don’t bold, I don’t underline, but I will beat the fuck out of italises and “quote-marks.” Willy-nilly. Sometimes I think I know what “emphasis” I’m trying to make. I’ve edited, taken them out, rephrased, put them back in, but in the end, did they add? Were I better talented with syntax, I could likely do without either.
I’m all for emphasis of any sort–so long as it never looks like the writer is trying too hard. Doesn’t it seem that you can always see the confidence of the writer? Here’s the sort of thing I’m always pointing out in workshops:
“Oh, right–like that’s really going to work,” she said, sarcastically.
Do we really need the propping up done by the adverb here? Doesn’t the phrase already suggest everything that “sarcastically” indicates? When unneeded clarification is provided, something is taken away from the reader’s opportunity to explore.
sounds like a job for the SarcMark(tm) or maybe the Open-Sarc.
I’d post a link but I’m too lazy
Spaced dashes (typically ens, not ems) are mostly a European convention—it’s one of the rules Jan Tschichold introduced in Penguin’s composition specs. Most U.S. trade publishers follow Chicago style, however, which calls for em dashes to be set flush against the text on either side.