Category Archives: Editing

Using periods when texting now seen as jerky

Smiley frog texting

Smiley frog texting

A new study undertaken at Binghamton University in New York suggests that using periods at the end of text messages isn’t only unnecessary, it’s insincere, unfriendly and even heartless. We’ve known for some time that texting doesn’t require proper punctuation or spelling if the meaning is clear. Who wants to type out “talk to you later” or so many other phrases when “TTYL” and the myriad of other texting acronyms will do? But a period as a sign of aggression? That’s something new. Perhaps the period typist is seen as giving his or her texting partner short shrift, even though that’s unlikely the intent in most cases.

Interestingly, exclamation points were not given the same stigma as periods in a follow-up to the study. On the contrary, they were viewed as being quite helpful. Maybe that’s because, in a text-only environment, it is otherwise difficult to convey emotion, which is of course why emoticons are so popular.

It’s clear that texting is a language unto itself. But we shouldn’t mistake the loose convenience of texting for acceptable writing in other media. Articles, blog posts, business presentations, organization and outreach communications, academic papers, legal and official submissions, job applications and many other writings still need to be correct if you want to make the best impression and achieve your desired result. That’s where sharp editors and communications consultants come in. Contact us if you need to hire one!

Photo by Kevin Dooley, used under Creative Commons license. http://is.gd/h0mtnf

 

 

Author Amy Tan discusses the writer/editor relationship

Here are excerpts from an interesting article about best-selling author Amy Tan’s search for a new editor after her longtime editor died of cancer. According to Tan, “it’s kind of like getting married.”

As an editor, I can attest to the intimacy and trust involved in a great editor/writer relationship. This sometimes involves very lively creative discussions, but having this kind of partner is essential for writers, as well as business owners and organizations, to communicate their messages in the most effective way.

Pratt Institute’s typo-correcting graffiti artist

Surgeons want to perform surgery. Editors want to edit. That may be the motive behind these graffiti incidents taking place in the Pratt Institute‘s sculpture garden in Brooklyn, NY. Each sculpture has a plaque describing the work of art. Someone (or perhaps more than one person) has been going around with a marker correcting some pretty bad and obvious typos on the plaques. The artist/professor in charge of writing the copy for the plaques says that the mistakes may have happened because he relies on his assistant, who is French, to create them, and there may have been a breakdown in the language and writing.

Not to denigrate any foreigners, but this is yet another example of how hiring a good editor beforehand can avoid some embarrassing mistakes that need to be corrected — one way or another — later.