Recommended Read Chappell, Warren and Robert Bringhurst. A Short History of the Printed Word. Vancouver: Hartley & Marks Publishers Inc., 1999. [ISBN-10: 0-88179-154-7] A Short History of the Printed Word is an impressively complete history of print and its astonishing cultural ascendency, beginning with the invention of moveable type in eleventh-century China and ending with […]
Vest-Pocket Vocabulary Jimp, a. neat; handsome. Word in the Wild: Jamaal, a jimp lad who is a favourite wherever he goes, is precise in his movements, predictable in his habits, and generous with his time. This word of Scotch or northern origin was introduced into English literature in the nineteenth century. According to the OED […]
Lexical Vexations Farther adv. 1. to a greater (measurable) physical distance. Further adj., adv. 1. to a greater extent, to a greater figurative distance. Words in the Wild: She wanted to gather further knowledge of the bats’ ecological niche, but she couldn’t make herself go any farther into the cave. According to Merriam-Webster’s farther and […]
Vest-Pocket Vocabulary Immarces’sible, a. unfading. Word in the Wild: Only statues, gods and vampires can lay claim to immarcessible beauty. The etymological origin of this term is an adaptation from the late Latin im- (negative prefix) + marcēscĕre (to fade or whither). The OED provides the Vest-Pocket spelling, but indicates that it is an erroneous […]
Ever wondered what the dark, secret side of your city looks like? I do all the time and love to read mysteries set in Toronto like those written by Maureen Jennings, Vivian Meyers, and Pat Capponi. So when I saw that one of the Luminato events was called Gothic Toronto: Writing the City Macabre, I […]
Lexical Vexations Flout v. 1. to disregard contemptuously. Flaunt v. 1. to show off, to display proudly. 2. to disregard contemptuously. Words in the Wild: He flouted the school dress code by flaunting six inches of boxer shorts above the precariously dangling waistband of his jeans. The second definition of flaunt is considered by many […]
I spent last weekend mingling with 200 or so other editors at the Editors’ Association of Canada’s 2009 conference. It’s very rare that you’d find so many of us in one place since editors on the whole tend toward being a retiring lot. Our solitary toiling over thick manuscripts and flickering computer screens doesn’t always […]
Vest-Pocket Vocabulary Well, it’s a big day for the Vest-Pocket Dictionary—today’s word stumped the OED! I’m going to write in and suggest they add this Vest-Pocket word: Hedge’-note, n. low writing. Word in the Wild: She’s convinced that the Times is going to run her opinion piece, but it’s little better than a hedge-note. This […]
Since we’re on the topic of spaces, I thought I’d write a quick entry about spaces between sentences. A lot of us were taught to include two spaces after each sentence in typing class, and many of us were taught not to. Who’s right? Short Answer: One space is the current standard for spacing between […]
Proofreaders’ Marks Writers and editors aren’t only concerned with the ink on the page, but also with the spaces separating the ink. But how can you have a mark that denotes a lack of mark, a space? Well, you can arbitrarily assign that task to a mark that rarely appears in documents: How to know […]