In Search of Awesome: The Four Types of Quality

I am republishing here a blog post I originally published at DigitalRelevance back on February 6. I'm gearing up for my presentation at the American Copy Editor's Society's annual conference at the end of March, and a discussion of quality will certainly play a role in that presentation.

How do you judge quality, both of your own creations and in what you find from others? Do you consciously hold your own work to a higher (or, Cthulhu forbid, lower) standard than the work of others, or do you expect others' work to live up to your own skills?

Here's the post:

Four Ways to Simplify Your Blog Posts, and Why You Should

Though I haven't been posting much, I have been writing. Occasionally.

One of my latest at the DigitalRelevance blog has been getting some great traction. In complete honesty, I hope to garner even more traffic by posting a link to it here.

So go read 4 Ways to Simplify Your Blog Posts, and Why You Should — and leave a comment.

The Logophilius Christmas List

Dear Santa,

You’ve disappointed me in the past, so much so that I considered not sending you my wish list this year. On the other hand, I’ve disappointed myself a few times, too, so I figure I should give you another chance.

This year, my Christmas wishes aren’t solely for me, but for all of the English-loving bibliophiles, logodaedalists, and graphomaniacs out there. Here’s what we would like for Christmas:

• Over the next year, have your magical elves remove all the unnecessary apostrophes on all the grocers’ signs, storefronts, and tea party placards. By November, you should have enough apostrophes to stand in for everyone at Fox News for all of 2015.
• Teach the world’s children the difference between i.e. and e.g. and to stop using both.
• Stop filling young people’s stockings with like and fill them with descriptive verbs. Or at least thoughtful pauses.
• Stop Justin Bieber. Just, stop him.
• Let all the world know that trust-fund douchebags with Ivy-league degrees their fathers bought them are entitled, but that movies and books are only titled.
• Please make all Internet trolls look more like trolls with each new inflammatory comment.
• Alert English teachers everywhere stop harping on split infinitives and sentence-ending prepositions and focus instead on teaching students how to write well.
• No more zombies interposed into pre-existing literature of any grade. Pretty please.
• Let everyone know the joys of Seasonal Work.
• Put anyone who writes looser instead of loser on the Naughty list until they learn better.
• And finally, I wish everyone around the world will find in their stocking this Christmas an old-fashioned literally that means “literally” and not “the opposite of literally.”

I know this is a big order, but if anyone can do it, you can.

This is your last chance, Santa. Even if you can deliver on only one of these Christmas wishes,* it will reaffirm my faith in you as a legendary bringer of jollity and neat-o stuff.

But if January comes, and everyone is all like, “This Belieber literally came out of left field and like asked me if I wanted to see that like awesome-looking new movie, e.g., Moby-Dick, The Zombie Whale, so I said yes because I didn’t want to look like a looser, and I don’t own a copy of Seasonal Work.” then I give up.

And it’ll be nothing but Festivus next December.

* Please make it the Justin Bieber one.

The Subversive Copy Editor Encourages Editors to Spend Time Online

Carol Fisher Saller (aka the Subversive Copy Editor), senior manuscript editor at the University of Chicago Press, answerer of questions at the Chicago Manual of Style Online Q&A, editor extraordinaire, and wonderful person overall, recently posted an insightful and interesting article called "What Copy Editors Can Learn Online (Maybe Not What You Think)" that I encourage both writers and editors new and old to read (in lieu of an original posting of my own).

To be brief, the three points she highlights -- the three things you can learn online -- are

1. How not to copy edit
2. What the experts are thinking
3. How to solve almost any problem

Those points can apply to nearly every discipline, but we word people aren't interested in every discipline. (Well, maybe we are, but not right now.)

My favorite part: When writing about looking through blog comments sections, she advises, "Lurk but don't touch."

Both good advice and a sweet turn of phrase.

19th-Century Criminal Slang

Rebecca Onion over at Slate as posted a fun romp through criminal slang in the mid-1800s. Here's the lead paragraph of the article:

The following list of slang terms is drawn from a book compiled by the first New York City Police Chief, George W. Matsell, in 1859. Vocabulum, or the Rogue’s Lexicon, which you can read in full text via the Internet Archive, includes an index of criminals’ slang with definitions, short stories written using the “language,” and appendices cataloging the specialized slang of gamblers, billiard-players, brokers, and pugilists.

There are some great ones in there. For example, it seems the 19th-century equivalent of today's douchebag was Billy Noodle; a Lushington, which sounds ripe for a Grey's Anatomy character nickname, is slang for a drunk (e.g., Drinky von Lushington); and a pap lap is an infant.

Go check out the longer list, and Rebecca's commentary on it: Some Excellent Mid-19th-Century Criminal Slang That's Ripe For Revival

Alice Munro and Paraleipsis

I was thrilled to hear that Alice Munro, master of the short story, was named as this year's recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.

I was also a little embarrassed that I haven't read any of her work. Not yet, anyway.

The (Super)Power of Language: Tony Noland's "Verbosity's Vengeance"

Tony Noland was one of the first people I really connected with on Twitter. I wish now I could remember exactly how we ended up finding one another, but it certainly had something to do with our mutual love of limericks, our penchant for puns, our fascination with flash fiction, and our general, unabashed logophilia.

Since then, he has been one of my greatest supporters as a writer. He has offered me feedback and encouragement, has helped me connect with a wider audience, and has even retweeted some of my most groan-inducing puns. In short, he's been a good friend.

Inasmuch as one can be good friends with someoneone has never met. At least not in person. (Such is the wonder and joy of social media.)

Today, Tony is releasing his newest novel, Verbosity's Vengeance. I got the opportunity to read an earlier version and provide some feedback some time ago, and — knowing how good it was then and that it has only improved since — I wholeheartedly endorse it. With this novel, adult grammar geeks, word nerds, language lovers, and even the odd Grammar Nazi finally get a superhero just for them.

But here, let'a have Tony tell you about it himself:

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I love the power of language. A well-turned phrase, a word that is just right, a clear and cogent expression of an idea . . . these are the things that make my little heart go pitter-pat.

At the same time, one of my least favorite things is sloppy writing. I actually don't object to bad writing nearly so much as bad writing mechanics. Hackneyed clichés, predictable plots and bad dialogue may truly represent the writer's talent level, or meet the expectations of the writer's audience. However, when someone uses inconsistent verb tenses or pronouns with uncertain antecedents, I'm yanked out of the story. That interferes with the purpose of the writing.

The rules of grammar, spelling, and punctuation exist to support the clarity and consistency of the written word. They are foundational to effective communication; without them, you have incoherent confusion.

This doesn't mean you always have to follow those rules. Far from it! Serious art can happen when you break the rules, but it has to be done with clear understanding and deliberate intent. These rules are powerful things, not to be trifled with lightly.

The dour, dusty scold who snarls on the internet at every misplaced apostrophe and every split infinitive is missing the point. Grammar isn't about adherence to inherited wisdom solely for the sake of orthodox purity. It's about communication, connection, communion. Grammatical speech doesn't restrict you; it makes your ideas shine. There's a joy in linguistic expertise that is unknown to those who can't tell a well-constructed sentence from a poorly-constructed one.

All of which brings me to the central idea behind my new book: Words have power, but their power is magnified when they are given clear expression. Grammar and punctuation amplify the strength of ideas.

What if that power weren't metaphorical or conceptual, but actual?

Verbosity's Vengeance is about the Grammarian, a superhero whose powers are all based on grammar and punctuation. Although the concept is tongue-in-cheek and there's plenty of word nerd humor throughout the book, the Grammarian is a real superhero facing real problems as he hunts down his arch-nemesis, Professor Verbosity. The Grammarian has to find out what Verbosity's big plan is and stop him before it can threaten Lexicon City.

His job isn't made any easier by the interference from a grandstanding, second-rate superhero named the Avant Guardian, or by the distraction of an intriguing (and attractive) scientist with a strong interest in superheroes and their technology. It's Batman meets WordGirl meets Thursday Next.

The Grammarian is no blue-pencil prescriptivist, waving a copy of Strunk & White like immutable holy writ. Nor is he an out-and-out descriptivist, eschewing established patterns in order to embrace the formless NOW. He lives and breathes the power of grammar and punctuation, using them in all their flexibility to stop crime and protect the innocent.

It's a fun, exciting book. I hope you like it!

Verbosity's Vengeance: A Grammarian Adventure Novel is on sale at Amazon for $2.99. 

Tony Noland is a writer and editor in the suburbs of Philadelphia. His blog is call Landless, which is its own bit of wordplay,  and you can find him on Twitter as @TonyNoland and on Facebook at Tony Noland's Author Page. Verbosity's Vengeance isn't his first publication; check out his GoodReads author page to see what else he's been up to.

Blog Editing Tip: How Much Editing Advice Is Too Much?

Originally published at relevance.com, July 15, 2013.


Whether you’re talking about writing, editing, or trimming your nose hairs, advice on how to do it well (and how to do it right) is abundant. Every bit of advice you get, though, is really just an opinion. Some opinions come from years of experience and study, some come from adherence to received dogma, and some come from pure personal taste. Some opinions are shared by large numbers of people, and others are hoarded like canned meat in a bomb shelter.

Blog Editing Tip: Actions Speak Louder as Verbs

Originally published at relevance.com, July 8, 2013.

No word in the English language is as insidious as is is. Is is everywhere. Sometimes is is a helping verb, and sometimes is is a linking verb. Sometimes is is the only verb that will work, but all too often, is isn’t. Part of the art of writing and editing is deciding whether is is or is not the exact right verb.

Blog Editing Tip: Don’t Let Cliches and Idioms Get Out of Hand

Originally published at relevance.com, July 1, 2013.

Unless you’re blogging about something that’s intensely personal, you aren’t the only one blogging about that subject. And even then, a post about your childbirth experience, your struggle with cancer or your frustration with Microsoft joins a large and ever-growing army of bloggers writing about similar situations.

With so much competition, the only way to get your blog noticed is by offering something that other blogs don’t. Something creative and original. Something better.