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Monthly Archives: March 2008

Verbal tics: Time for an aural edit

I sat through an unnecessarily long and painful software training session the other day (Office 2007 — thanks again, Microsoft), and my instructor had two verbal tics that only contributed to the length and pain.
Every time he asked anyone to do anything, he followed up with “if you would, please.”
And any time he explained just […]

Twuncers, kippers: LOL, but oh, it hurts :-(

There was a time once, I think, when people used real words.
Not anymore.
Ever heard of a twuncer? A soiler? An alcopop?
Read all about it, and groan and gag, here. It hurts my poor editor’s brain.

Yes, I am a line tamer

The Editor’s Association of Canada has opened a cafepress store featuring some cheeky-cute editor gear. The taglines on the items include:

Line Tamer
You write it. We right it.
Message Therapist

… and my favourite: May I heighten your textual pleasure?
Check them out at: http://www.cafepress.com/eac_acr

Oh, CBC – I told the world I loved you!

And then you do this:
However, the club said if the swelling and pain reduce within the week, it would allow Ohlund to continue playing in lieu of slight discomfort and he would then undergo surgery in the off-season.
Well, yes: playing in lieu of slight discomfort sound like a great idea, but somehow I don’t think […]

Little things make a big difference

I passed a restaurant on my walk home yesterday with a sign on the awning that said:

Kebabs

Vegetarians

That one little “s” makes that sign rather terrifying. A quick proofread could have saved it!

To “ed” or not to “ed”

The other day, a client asked me whether the expression “cast doubt” should be  “casted doubt” if used in the past tense.
 The answer is no, since cast is an irregular verb — the past tense is also “cast.”
But I did a quick Google search to see what’s happening to this expression online, and “casted doubt” comes up about […]