It was a cold and rainy winter evening. My husband and I drove downtown, found parking and then ran through the raindrops to find the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Once inside, we were guided to a surprisingly large and airy studio and settled down in chairs with about 100 others. Moments later, host Sheryl Mackay and guest Rob Kapilow walked in.  Continue reading...

Wendalyn Nichols, editor of the Copyediting newsletter, offers useful tips to copy editors and anyone else who prizes clear and orderly writing. Here she looks at why a seemingly simple rule of English, whether to use a or an as an indefinite article, can cause confusion.  Continue reading...

As we bid farewell to the strangely nameless first decade of the 21st century, University of Illinois linguist Dennis Baron takes a look back at the lingo that enlivened the last ten years.  Continue reading...

Last week, members of the Special Libraries Association were asked to vote on a radical renaming of their organization: it was proposed that the SLA become the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals, or ASKPro. The contentious wrangling over the proposal revealed deep ambivalence about the words library and librarian in the digital age. We asked Stan Friedman, senior research librarian for Condé Nast Publications, for some insights into the terminological debate.  Continue reading...

Veteran copy editor John E. McIntyre holds forth entertainingly on all manner of issues related to language and editing on his blog, "You Don't Say." Here McIntyre wonders why we're stuck with the term foodie when there are so many serviceable gastronomic alternatives.  Continue reading...

Wendalyn Nichols, editor of the Copyediting newsletter, offers useful tips to copy editors and anyone else who prizes clear and orderly writing. Here she looks at the all-too-common confusion of principal and principle.  Continue reading...

My 15-year-old daughter and I share many traits. We'd both rather eat a really good piece of cheese than a sweet. We share the belief that The Gilmore Girls was one of the funniest, most charming programs ever produced by network TV. And we both have scoliosis.  Continue reading...