Codebreakers and Editors: Not So Different

Some of you may recall that my paternal grandmother was a codebreaker at Bletchley Park during World War II. Well, today would have been her 95th birthday, and I’ve written a little something in her honour. One thing we had in common was a love of the theatre.

Loaded Language: When Words Become Weapons

The last few months have been busy. I went on holiday, became the Managing Editor of a Canadian medical journal, spoke at an editing conference, landed a bunch of new clients, and brought home an Alaskan Malamute puppy. Busy might just be an understatement.

*dusts page, removes cobwebs from corners* 

Plain Language Practice. With Zombies!

I’ve been reading through some plain language resources over the last couple of days, which has inspired me to create a few before and after examples just for you. Before I get to the examples, a reminder that the goal of plain language is to make communication clear and accessible. For a full review of how plain language accomplishes that, you can read my post from last year, Getting to the Heart of Plain Language — or visit Plain Language Association International.

How Upper and Lower Case Letters Changed the World

When I was studying European history at university, I had to write a paper about the Carolingian empire. You won’t be surprised to learn that I chose a language-related topic. These days, as my six-year-old learns to read and write, I’ve been thinking about that paper. Today, I’d like to revisit it.

As you may know, people didn’t always use upper and lower case letters—also known as majuscule and minuscule. In Rome, manuscripts from the 7th and 8th centuries were written entirely in majuscule.

The Enigma of Editing. Or, What Exactly Does An Editor Do, Anyway?

Well, I’m not entirely sure how it got to be 2016, but here we are just the same. I’ve been contemplating my first post of the year for a while. I talk about grammar and etymology a lot, but I realized that I haven’t talked about editing very much. So today, I’d like to tell you a bit about the work that I do as an editor.

For starters, did you know that there are different types of editing?

The Etymology of Death, Grief, and Mourning

My dear readers, what a difficult month it has been. One of my dogs died unexpectedly, from something called spontaneous pneumothorax, which, in a nutshell, means he had holes in his lungs that formed spontaneously and grew progressively worse over time.

I’m not trying to bring you down; I just wanted you to understand why I chose to write today’s post.