Thursday, March 19, 2009

Making Up New Words

I love new words, even when they don't deserve to be standard usage. It's just fun.

Here's one that I *think* is an error in editing, from the beauty copy today.



squoval-shaped nails


I *think* the editor was trying to change "square" to "oval" (or vice versa) and didn't realize that she'd left letters in. But she also pushes the envelope a little (and the best way to push it a little is to push it more, and than dial back), so maybe she MEANT it to be square/oval?

I'll ask her. Meanwhile, I love it. It even SOUNDS fun.


Follow-up: It's an industry term. So I'm going to lobby for this:

"squoval"
nails

to let the quotes do one of their *real* jobs, which is to indicate jargon.



Some background:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squoval
Comma, No Comma


From the beauty story about hands and feet, fingers and toes:

I love a sheer, lavender polish


My vote: no comma: a sheer lavender polish



Wednesday, March 04, 2009

A Copyeditor's Daughter Celebrates National Grammar Day

The Girl is in high school, and she's taking Latin.

"Hey, Mom," she said. "Guess how I celebrated National Grammar Day?"

Latin grammar, I guessed. (When I was making Grammar Flags for the Grammar Cupcakes, she kept suggesting stuff like the ablative case.)

Yes, she said. "And I deconstructed Joshua's article." It needed help, she said: "His grammar is atrocious." So she fixed it for him.

She's also on the newspaper staff, and she edited his column!


Aw, it's enough to make a parent proud.