LexxRuthless
Captain Corruption
- Joined
- May 19, 2018
- Posts
- 5,999
Sorry, (not sorry) I couldn't help myself.All I have to say at this point is @LexxRuthless loving everything is making me uncomfortably cheerful. Stop now.
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Sorry, (not sorry) I couldn't help myself.All I have to say at this point is @LexxRuthless loving everything is making me uncomfortably cheerful. Stop now.
Lit rules on copyrighted material:You raise an interesting point. The book's still in copyright. Is this Fair Dealing within S29 the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This is like porn to me.
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There's another one that Athalia turned me on to: Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer. He was the copy chief for Random House. It's geared mainly to nonfiction writers, but there's stuff in it for everybody. There's a laugh on nearly every page.I forgot what an acerbic style that book had. Delightful! The only grammar book I've ever read cover to cover voluntarily for fun.
My eyes...!Just to lower the tone slightly...
Whereas I was thinking, "Ooh! A nice, big coffee mug!"My eyes...!
I read his, and thoroughly enjoyed it.There's another one that Athalia turned me on to: Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer. He was the copy chief for Random House. It's geared mainly to nonfiction writers, but there's stuff in it for everybody. There's a laugh on nearly every page.
Example from the "Notes on Frequently Misspelled Words"
REMUNERATIVE
Not "renumerative." I tend to avoid "remunerative" altogether, not only because I can't remember how to spell it but because I can't pronounce it without choking on it, and so I'd rather go with "lucrative."
Dreyer also realizes that as the language ages, it changes, and that there are some hills that are no longer worthwhile to die on. He gives authors a lot of latitude in matters of style.
Dreyer also realizes that as the language ages, it changes, and that there are some hills that are no longer worthwhile to die on. He gives authors a lot of latitude in matters of style.
It's a really interesting point, the 'what breaks a story?'. For me (editing or writing) I prioritise readability and flow above all else. If it's awkward to read, jarring or immersion-breaking, it doesn't matter how grand the lexicon or how exciting the premise. If reading it is a battle then, quite simply, many simply won't.Now here is an editor a writer can work with. The guy knows all the rules but also knows when to say fuck the rule as long as it doesn't break the story. Very rare indeed.
I have a copy of his book and keep it close at hand. He cares about punctuation and style a great deal, but he's a pragmatist, which I like.There's another one that Athalia turned me on to: Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer. He was the copy chief for Random House. It's geared mainly to nonfiction writers, but there's stuff in it for everybody. There's a laugh on nearly every page.
Example from the "Notes on Frequently Misspelled Words"
REMUNERATIVE
Not "renumerative." I tend to avoid "remunerative" altogether, not only because I can't remember how to spell it but because I can't pronounce it without choking on it, and so I'd rather go with "lucrative."
Dreyer also realizes that as the language ages, it changes, and that there are some hills that are no longer worthwhile to die on. He gives authors a lot of latitude in matters of style.
So do I, now. Kindle Instant Gratification ftw.I have a copy of his book and keep it close at hand. He cares about punctuation and style a great deal, but he's a pragmatist, which I like.
Fancy that, I was discussing rectums with someone recently...I was discussing colons with someone recently...
Oh, they're out there...Couldn't've a fucking triple contraction.
And the Monty Python bit, "What's that in the road? A head?"Our classic examples from Intro to Linguistics (we do it by sound, but punctuation does it as well):
What are we having for dinner, Mother?
What are we having for dinner? Mother?
What do you do with a stiff neck?
What do you do with a stiff? Neck?
And "Waiting with 'bated breath" means holding one's breath in anticipation. "Waiting with abated breath" is the unabbreviated version.
"Yes, it is a head," declared the tumbril driver.And the Monty Python bit, "What's that in the road? A head?"
"No, no! It's 'What's that in the road ahead?'!"
I'm now imagining how hard it would be to follow a conversation between Christopher Walken and William Shatner.And then I once had a student whose first essay exam answer started:
"The Yanomamo, live, in, the jungles, of Venezuela."
It continued like that for the rest of the exam. I asked him about it when I returned the tests, and he explained that his high school English teacher had taught him to insert a comma whenever one would pause when speaking.
I'm now imagining how hard it would be to follow a conversation between Christopher Walken and William Shatner.
He's got a fever, Jim, and the only prescription is, more cowbell.That gremlin, on the wing. It's only ripping, the wing to shreds, because it's had a watch up, its ass, for the last five years. Bones, do something.
I'm now imagining how hard it would be to follow a conversation between Christopher Walken and William Shatner.