1474 replies to this topic

[Sneakeater]

There actually exist older attorneys who correct briefs to replace italics with underlining.

They also correct briefs to replace a single long dash with two hyphens -- even though most word processing fonts now automatically replace two hyphens with a single long dash, since two hyphens were a signal to the typesetter to put in a dash.

The mind boggles.

[prasantrin]

One of my pet peeves is instructors who take style matters so, so seriously. For example, up until a few years ago the APA style was to underline anything that would be italicised in print. This was harking back to the days when "underline" was code to the copy-editor to italicise. Anyway, I'd hear students complain that some profs were deducting points because they didn't adhere to APA, and were using their PCs to write their papers as they would appear in published form.

So much for the importance of content.

(ETA, and now, of course, APA has caught up and expect authors to use italics!)

I once had a professor who, when returning our first written assignment (I think it was an article review), lectured the class on the use of page numbers. He insisted that we must use page numbers, and said that in the future, he would refuse to mark any assignments which did not have page numbers. One student complained, "But you didn't tell us we had to have page numbers," to which he replied, "Well, I didn't tell you to write in English, either, but you did."

I thought the whole thing was quite funny, but I was the only one in class who had numbered pages (a habit I got into because I am careless and I often mix up pages).

[splinky]

One of my pet peeves is instructors who take style matters so, so seriously. For example, up until a few years ago the APA style was to underline anything that would be italicised in print. This was harking back to the days when "underline" was code to the copy-editor to italicise. Anyway, I'd hear students complain that some profs were deducting points because they didn't adhere to APA, and were using their PCs to write their papers as they would appear in published form.

So much for the importance of content.

(ETA, and now, of course, APA has caught up and expect authors to use italics!)

I once had a professor who, when returning our first written assignment (I think it was an article review), lectured the class on the use of page numbers. He insisted that we must use page numbers, and said that in the future, he would refuse to mark any assignments which did not have page numbers. One student complained, "But you didn't tell us we had to have page numbers," to which he replied, "Well, I didn't tell you to write in English, either, but you did."

I thought the whole thing was quite funny, but I was the only one in class who had numbered pages (a habit I got into because I am careless and I often mix up pages).

brown nose

[prasantrin]

Single-space after a period is so much the norm that the Mouthfuls composer automatically deletes the second space. Try it: type a period followed by two spaces followed by any word, then type a period followed by a single space followed by the same word. In the final post, they will appear exactly the same.

I did notice that everyone's posts looked as though they had single spaces after periods, but when I checked (by clicking "reply" and counting the spaces after periods), I found that most people had double spaces.

I don't think I will ever use single spaces. Not because I am against its use, but because I have used double spaces for so long, it would take too much thought/effort for me to start single spacing.

[prasantrin]

One of my pet peeves is instructors who take style matters so, so seriously. For example, up until a few years ago the APA style was to underline anything that would be italicised in print. This was harking back to the days when "underline" was code to the copy-editor to italicise. Anyway, I'd hear students complain that some profs were deducting points because they didn't adhere to APA, and were using their PCs to write their papers as they would appear in published form.

So much for the importance of content.

(ETA, and now, of course, APA has caught up and expect authors to use italics!)

I once had a professor who, when returning our first written assignment (I think it was an article review), lectured the class on the use of page numbers. He insisted that we must use page numbers, and said that in the future, he would refuse to mark any assignments which did not have page numbers. One student complained, "But you didn't tell us we had to have page numbers," to which he replied, "Well, I didn't tell you to write in English, either, but you did."

I thought the whole thing was quite funny, but I was the only one in class who had numbered pages (a habit I got into because I am careless and I often mix up pages).

brown nose

I can't help it. I am brown! (or permanently tanned, as I sometimes like to say).

Should I mention that I was the only person in the class who was awarded an "A+"? Roughly half-way through the class, the professor told me, more or less, that I would likely get an "A".

[Suzanne F]

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think today in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and poet, Self-Reliance, 1841

[Suzanne F]

From the diet book I'm currently working on:

Because of [the body's sensitivity to dairy products], it's impossible to feel the benefits of a dairy-free existence without going whole hog on the project.

[Wilfrid]

I was taught double spacing. The MLA handbook doesn't care. I didn't think anyone cared. I still do it, but as pointed out, it doesn't really matter in a digital context.

[Adrian]

"incentivize" is not a word.

I continue to agitate for "they" as a gender neutral pronoun.

[Sneakeater]

"Incentivize" may not be a word -- but I can't think of anything that is a word that conveys that meaning. ("Encourages"? Not quite the same, is it?)

"They": I recently went to a performance piece in which one of the performers was a woman who gender-identifies as a man. Her biography in the program booklet kept referring to her by the pronoun "they". It was very confusing.

[Adrian]

"Incentivize" may not be a word -- but I can't think of anything that is a word that conveys that meaning. ("Encourages"? Not quite the same, is it?)

"They": I recently went to a performance piece in which one of the performers was a woman who gender-identifies as a man. Her biography in the program booklet kept referring to her by the pronoun "they". It was very confusing.

There's a long history of "they" as a singular pronoun. Confusion would be mitigated by familiarity. "One" is cumbersome, "he" is politically intractable, and anything else is near offensive (s/he, etc.).

"Encourage" is not good enough (I don't really see the issue, unless you think that "encourage" implies something good, which it doesn't)? How about "motivate" or "prompt" or "induce" or any number of contextually appropriate actual words. (do a Lexis search of SC opinions and tell me how many times "incentivize" shows up). I cannot tell you how much I hate that word.

[Lex]

"incentivize" is not a word.

Too late. Google shows over a million hits.

Merriam Webster says it's a word and that it was first used in 1970.

That said, it's not a word I use. I hate CorporateSpeak.

[Adrian]

Just another wound to the language inflicted by MW's desire to be "hip". First appearance of "incentivize" in a US Supreme Court opinion? May 2011 in a footnote.

[splinky]

"Incentivize" may not be a word -- but I can't think of anything that is a word that conveys that meaning. ("Encourages"? Not quite the same, is it?)

in the olden days people used the word "motivate"

[Sneakeater]

"Motivate." I think I'll start using that.

(I have a feeling there was a time when "motivate" was thought to be a non-word.)