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IRMA

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Style Wars in Cyberspace

Seeded on Tue Jun 6, 2006 7:00 AM EDT
Read ArticleArticle Source: ajr.org
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Seeded by Irma
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-- After years of grousing among themselves over matters of grammar and punctuation, copy editors are waging their style wars before a wider audience – in the blogosphere.

From Washington to Dallas – we hope that's not a false range – style mavens are holding forth on hyphens, word usage (or is it use?) and the true meaning of Groundhog Day.

Copy blogs aren't quite in the major league of Web logs; one of the most-read of the 20 or so copy blogs garners about 13,000 unique visitors per month. Still, the copy editors' online diatribes have extended beyond the rim to grammar geeks, writers and English teachers, who fill the comments sections with polite but passionate debate on dangling participles and prepositional endings. --

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Writelife

As so many people I encounter online are from the U.S., I often get comments about my British oriented spelling - like colour. (In Canada, where I'm from, both are correct.)

  • 1 vote
Reply#1 - Tue Jun 6, 2006 11:31 AM EDT
Irma

I also tend to spell words the British way. Nothing wrong with that :-)

  • 1 vote
Reply#2 - Wed Jun 7, 2006 3:06 AM EDT
Aine MacDermot

And I have another sort of problem... I spent my formative years in England, attending my first three years of school there, and then moved to the U.S., so my brain has two "file cabinets" and I unconsciously spell words either way, often not noticing which spelling I've used until re-reading what I've written. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which spelling comes out... it's like reaching for two files at once, and the "winner" is determined at random.

I also have a problem of thinking way ahead of what I'm typing, and often leave out whole words and phrases without realizing it until later. It's maddening!

hehe

  • 1 vote
Reply#3 - Wed Jun 7, 2006 4:01 AM EDT
Writelife

I have a similar problem. My fingers do not spell as well as my brain. Unfortunately, they're the ones typing. I often surprised by what comes out.

    #3.1 - Wed Jun 7, 2006 12:15 PM EDT
    Shawn Gordon

    I can totally relate. My mind goes 50 times the speed of my fingers. I'll omit words and get a sort of cyber-dyslexia. It makes me come across as an idiot who has not clue what I'm talking about.

    I often get upset with those who wish to pick apart the grammatical correctness s of an article I've written or a comment I've left, because words really only make up 20% of language. I've always felt that the best way to write is the way you think. I end up with a better presentation and a far better communication as to my point. I've also noticed that a lot of people are playing the "million dollar word" game. That is, who can use the biggest most superfluous word ever. It is as if everyone has forgotten that if you go over your target audiences head, you may as well have not said anything at all.

    • 2 votes
    #3.2 - Sun Jun 11, 2006 8:42 PM EDT
    Reply
    Writelife

    "I'm often ..." That was an unintended example.

    • 1 vote
    Reply#4 - Wed Jun 7, 2006 12:16 PM EDT
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