The Elephants of Style
Advice on good writing from everybody's favorite editorial curmudgeon\ Persnickety, cantankerous, opinionated, entertaining, hilarious, wise...these are a few of the adjectives reviewers used to describe good-writing maven Bill Walsh's previous book, Lapsing Into a Comma. Now, picking up where he left off in Lapsing, Walsh addresses the dozen or so biggest issues that every writer or editor must master. He also offers a trunkload of good advice on the many little things that add up to good...
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A thorough, and thoroughly entertaining, guide to writing like the prosWhat do writers and editors mean when they talk about style? Sometimes they mean formatting for consistency and clarity. (Is it Texas or Tex. or TX? One space or two after a period?) Sometimes they mean correctness in spelling, grammar, word usage and punctuation. (A historic or an historic? The data is or the data are?) And sometimes they mean style as in stylishness. (Bright and breezy or just-the-facts-ma'am? Is that cute little idea fresh and original or tired and silly?) Inside, you'll find answers that will add polish and sparkle to your writing.In the word-nerd classic Lapsing Into a Comma, Bill Walsh of the Washington Post entertained, educated and enlightened writers, editors, students and language lovers with commonsense guidelines and opinionated commentary on American English in the computer age. In The Elephants of Style he takes a step back and presents an in-depth look at the basics, including spelling, capitalization, abbreviations, subject-verb agreement, plurals and possessives.With sometimes acerbic wit, the author also addresses: The lies your English teacher told you. Balancing the traditional ("Once wrong, always wrong") with the progressive ("Everybody does it") as language continues to evolve. How and why major publications differ in their handling of basic spelling, capitalization and punctuation issues. How empathy between writers and editors can make writing better. The Elephants of Style includes a continuation of The Curmudgeon's Stylebook, Walsh's A-to-Z glossary of style matters big and small, guaranteed to address questions that no other usage manuals cover. Is Starbucks a coffee shop? Is it porn or porno?Bill Walsh is the copy chief for national news at the Washington Post and the creator of the popular Web site The Slot: A Spot for Copy Editors (www.theslot.com). He lives in Washington, D.C.
AcknowledgmentsIntroductionElephant no. 1Remember that you're not using a typewriter1Elephant no. 2Letters of the law9Elephant no. 3What's up?17Elephant no. 4What to abbrev.?43Elephant no. 5Which one is right again?51Elephant no. 6Lies your English teacher told you61Elephant no. 7Some gray areas71Elephant no. 8Agreed?81Elephant no. 9Cover your S93Elephant no. 10A number of problems107Elephant no. 11The adventures of Curly and Stitch125Elephant no. 12Flair! Elan! Panache!135Elephant no. 13Writers, typists, thieves and liars157Elephant no. 14Writing and rewriting163The curmudgeon's stylebook (continued) : a web FAQ177Bibliography225Index227
